In late May, the US Treasury clarified that most townships, including those in Ohio, will have to look to their states to allocate American Rescue Plan Act funds to them. Ohio received $5.68 billion in direct assistance from ARPA; it will be up to state lawmakers to decide if a portion of those funds will be held for Ohio’s 1,305 townships (3 townships received direct allocations from Treasury because they have more than 50,000 residents each).
The Governor and legislative leaders have already announced they may use Ohio’s ARPA’s funds to repay the $1.7-$1.8 billion unemployment insurance loan Ohio received from the federal government in 2020. That would leave roughly $900 million from the first tranche of funds.
Last week, Senate President Matt Huffman, told reporters that Ohio’s first tranche of funds will need to be committed by September 30, 2021. President Huffman and others have said that “the one-time money should be spent on one-time expenses.” President Huffman noted that his priorities for those dollars include broadband expansion and brownfield remediation. GOPC expects discussions about the state funds will start in force in the summer, after the state operating budget passes June 30, 2021.
Communities are also starting to think about their funds. Smaller jurisdictions are still waiting to receive their funds: the local allocations will be sent to the state, who will then send it out to counties, who will then disburse to smaller cities and villages.
GOPC recently presented to leaders in Richland County suggestions on ways to strategically deploy local ARPA allocations. The event was hosted by the Richland Source and can be viewed here.
GOPC continues to update our ARPA Resources Directory with new and emerging ideas of usage of the ARPA funds, such as buying land in key corridors to put into land trusts or transfer to black and Latinx community groups. The Directory is here.
Continue to follow our blog and our social media channels for periodic updates on ways to strategically and confidently use ARPA funds to advance important community priorities.