Recovery help The American Rescue Plan Act is a $1.9 trillion initiative from the U.S. government to help the country recover and address issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Breakdown by city Each city in the Metrocom has set priorities for how they plan to allocate American Rescue Plan Act funding, with all cities putting money toward public works or utilities in some capacity. City
2021
10.41M
Schertz
42,002
March 11, 2021 President Joe Biden signs the American Rescue Plan Act into law, guaranteeing $84.6 billion to cities, counties and other local governments plus federal aid.
support public health expenditures; address negative economic effects caused by the pandemic; replace lost public sector revenue; provide premium pay for essential employees; invest in water, sewer and broadband services
May 2021 The U.S. Department of the Treasury begins releasing guidance for eligible uses for ARPA funds and the final allocations for metropolitan cities.
Universal City
Live Oak
5.17M
19,720
4.08M
15,781
update city technology and security; purchase generators; invest in water and sewer infrastructure; provide premium pay for essential employees
sewer line televising and rehabilitation; purchase and update generators for utilities and public facilities; update equipment in city parks
August 2021 Schertz, Cibolo, Garden Ridge, Selma, Live Oak and Universal City are awarded the first disbursements, a combined total of $15.59 million in ARPA funds. Fall 2022 Cities are set to receive the other half of funding, a combined total of $31.18 million , and finish allocating funds based on priorities.
2022
SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU; CITIES OF SCHERTZ, CIBOLO, GARDEN RIDGE, SELMA, LIVE OAK AND UNIVERSAL CITY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
projects, including Deer Creek and Charleston Park drainage, lift station replacements and more. Cibolo is also distributing $2.2 million in premium pay for essen- tial workers, $600,000 in communi- cations upgrades and $220,000 for emergency equipment. Like Schertz and Cibolo, Universal City will also focus some of its fund- ing on water and sewer infrastructure. According to Turner, Universal City received $2.6 million in the first allotment. In efforts to improve infra- structure, nine generators will be pur- chased to place at well sites and lift stations. Another large portion of Univer- sal City’s ARPA spending focuses on cybersecurity updates and pub- lic safety. The goal is to implement multifactor authentication and other measures to keep citizen data private, Turner said. “We are going to be working on updating some of our older technol- ogy that does not have the necessary tools that are sought after in today’s environment,” Turner said. “We are also installing cameras and alarm sys- tems in locations around our water storage and towers to protect us from cybersecurity hacks or unwanted entrances.” The city has already begun updat- ing the security systems and technol- ogy with hopes to finish the project by the end of the year, Turner said. Smaller cities spending While smaller Metrocom cities did
million to reimburse small businesses to address the negative economic effects caused by the pandemic. “We wanted to look at our busi- nesses in the city of Schertz and have them apply to us for a grant based on their losses in the pandemic,” Browne said. “We capped that at $25,000 per business.” The city took applications over sev- eral months but is no longer accept- ing applications. Browne said the city only spent around $430,000 of the $1 million and will reallocate the remain- ing money based on other needs. Roughly $2.5 million from the first payment and the majority of the $5.2 million second payment will be put toward water, sewer and broadband infrastructure, Browne said. This funding will be distributed over the next few years to work on city projects, including upsizing the Crest Oak Sewer Line, purchasing generators, partially funding utility relocations for the FM 1518 project and more, he said. “In a few cases, we are adding some lines, but it all has to do with ensuring we have the capacity and the capabil- ity to deliver the water that we need,” Browne said. Cibolo, Universal City spending Nearby, the city of Cibolo plans to use its ARPA funds for capital improvement projects, City Manager Wayne Reed said. In total, Cibolo was awarded $7.75 million, receiving $3.8 million in August. The city has hopes to complete
2023
Dec. 31, 2024 All recipients of ARPA money must obligate their allocations.
2024
2025
Dec. 31, 2026 All ARPA money must be spent.
2026
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Schertz spending With a 2020 census population of 42,002, Schertz received the largest chunk of ARPA funding, getting just over $10.41 million. According to City Manager Mark Browne, the city used most of the first allotment to reimburse the city for pandemic-related expenses. “We ran a vaccine clinic from Jan- uary to June last year,” Browne said. “We had a tremendous amount of overtime, especially for public safety employees and some other areas. There were other costs associated with that, which we put into one category.” Out of the first allotment of just over $5.2 million, supporting public health expenditures took about $303,000, according to the city. The city also designated $1
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received a combined $31.2 million in ARPA funding. Universal City City Manager KimTurner said, these funds are spent similar to other budgets. “These funds help us work on proj- ects that we have had in mind for a while,” Turner said. “We try to orga- nize as much as possible, and it is no different than how we run our other budgets, but these funds allow us to address city concerns.” Funds for each city were divided into two disbursements, with the first distributed last fall and the other to be distributed this fall. According to the treasury, cities have until Dec. 31, 2024, to allocate their ARPA funds and until Dec. 31, 2026, to spend those funds.
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