One-fifth of $21M in COVID funding remains

Boulder City still has nearly 20% of the more than $21 million it received from the American Recovery Plan Act or ARPA. So, what is ARPA, where did it come from and how is the money being spent?

Enacted in March of 2021, ARPA will be remembered by most as the third round of economic stimulus passed by the federal government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which officially began one year earlier.

Stimulus packages were passed under Republican and Democratic control of the national government — nearly $3 trillion under the Trump administration and then President Joe Biden promised additional spending in January of 2021, before he was actually inaugurated. That promise eventually became the $1.9 trillion ARPA.

But ARPA had a key component that made it different from the previous stimulus packages. Where the bulk of spending in 2020 went to individuals and businesses in the form of direct payments, refundable tax credits for families with children, expanded unemployment benefits and forgivable loans, ARPA included $362 billion on a ledger line called “community development.” This was funding intended to support state and local governments.

In hindsight, the need for ARPA is a matter of some disagreement. First, most economists now agree that the spending had at least some impact on the historic levels of consumer price inflation that peaked in 2022. Additionally, according to the Government Accountability Office, while state and local government revenues dropped by more than $60 billion in the period between April and June of 2020 (compared to the same period in 2019), revenues rebounded through the remainder of 2020. That was definitely the experience for Boulder City.

In a 2023 meeting to discuss enterprise funds and how they fit into the overall city budget, former City Manager Taylour Tedder said, “The city did not experience a revenue loss due to COVID.”

As noted in previous coverage, the biggest portion of the Boulder City budget is funded by the consolidated tax, which is a combination of sales, tobacco and alcohol taxes in Clark County and is often referred to in government shorthand as the “C-Tax.”

“If you look at C-Tax, of course it dropped off big time in the March, April and May of 2020 time frame, then it bounced back. People were spending stimulus money, things of that nature. So our revenue, between fiscal years 2020 and 2021, we did not lose revenue year-over-year,” Tedder said.

In total, Boulder City has received more than $21 million in ARPA funds. Of that, $10 million was restricted to uses that were directly tied to the pandemic and just north of $11 million was unrestricted.

How ARPA funds are being used

When the pandemic first hit, Boulder City was in the final phases of setting the fiscal year 2021 budget. With uncertainty about future revenue and with the city being unable to issue debt above $1 million without getting the approval of voters, the only option was to cut. And the city cut what had earlier been proposed by about 40%.

Some of the restricted funds directly addressed COVID, including a raffle to incentivize people getting vaccinated, test kits and vaccines and personal protective equipment. Organizations that were directly impacted by shutdowns, including the Boulder City Museum and See Spot Run dog park, received funding. The Senior Center got $100,000 for facility upgrades and another $100,000 went to provide broadband connectivity for city-owned buildings.

But the most noticeable spending came from the $11 million in unrestricted funding.

A pilot program to replace some city vehicles with EVs got $350,000. City Hall was brought into Americans With Disabilities Act compliance at a price tag of $250,000. A half-million dollars were spent to update the municipal code and an additional $300,000 went to cover unfunded state mandates affecting the municipal court.

Pickleball courts got $554,085 and $95,000 went to fund the new dog park. But the two biggest line items were large capital projects that Tedder characterized as “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities —$1.6 million for the construction of a fire substation and $4.5 million for the municipal golf irrigation project.

“ARPA funds allowed us to do projects sooner or faster for things that we never would have contemplated doing,” Tedder said. “We’re still trying to spend that money because we have until the end of 2026. But we are moving quickly forward on that. Getting the projects off the ground is what took so long and now they are in the works. A lot of the projects, like the municipal golf course irrigation project, we never could have paid for those without ARPA funds.”

Eagle-eyed readers may notice that some of those figures are substantially different from the ones that were reported in the past. This is because the city has moved around budgeted ARPA funds in order to meet the spending deadline.

“ARPA funding has a requirement that if you don’t spend it or have it encumbered with a contract by Dec. 31, 2024, we have to give it back to the federal government,” explained Budget Director Angela Manninen.

“In October of 2022, $2 million of ARPA funding was allocated to the Municipal Golf Course irrigation/water conservation project,” she said. “That project is going forward but will not be completed by December of 2025.”

Manninen explained that the city does have other existing and completed projects that would qualify for ARPA funding and that the value of those projects was about $1.7 million and staff asked the council to rescind a previous ordinance and pass a new one that would allow the city to move the funding set aside for a new irrigation system over to make them, in terms of accounting, the recipient of the ARPA funds so the city could avoid having to give the money back.

Staff’s request, as outlined by Manninen, was approved by the council unanimously without any discussion last year.

Moving money around

The other biggest planned project that did not happen was a second fire substation to be located closer to homes on the lake side of town across Nevada Way from the old Welcome Center that is now the headquarters of the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce.

The fire substation project fell victim to costs that came in at about double the budget and spending on the municipal golf course from ARPA funds dropped from $4.5 million to just $38,282 after the council gave in to vocal homeowners and opted to push turf removal, that is mandated by state law, to some point in a theoretical future.

The completed projects that will account for ARPA spending instead of the those projects include an additional $261,000 in improvements at City Hall (for a total of more than $500,000), $222,000 to install video security systems at all city facilities, about $210,000 in improvements to city parks and almost $230,000 to pay off principal and interest for golf carts that have been purchased by the city, mostly for use at Boulder Creek Golf Club.

When asked how much money in ARPA funds had been obligated but not yet spent, a city spokesperson replied in an email, “We have calculated this ARPA funds update. The calculations show that as of the end of March, the city has $4,336,082.37 left in ARPA funding.”

According to the city, ARPA funds obligated but not yet spent include:

Emergency aid requests (facility upgrades): $91,518.89

Fire Tower: $158,315.25

Muni Golf Irrigation Project: $38,282

FY 25 Acquisition and Improvements Projects: $872,100.06

Municipal Court requests: $549,256.99

Mental health/drug court program: $38,049.98

Pickleball courts: $554,085

Community Health Worker Program: $200,000 left (Next payment of $100,000 scheduled this spring) This line item refers to the community liaison position based at Boulder City Hospital.

Water projects: $1,615,558.00

Wastewater projects: $218,916.20