Boston officials say ARPA funds mostly committed; $129 million remains as departments work to spend by Dec. 31, 2026

Boston City Council Committee on COVID-19 Recovery members heard an update Sept. 24 on Boston's use of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, including how much the city has spent, where remaining dollars are committed and the steps the administration is taking to meet the U.S. Treasury expenditure deadline of Dec. 31, 2026.

The nut graf: City officials told councilors $429,400,000 of the $558,700,000 received directly by the city has been spent as of the latest Treasury quarterly report; $129,300,000 remains. City staff said most remaining balances are committed to housing projects and other multi-year contracts and that departments are tracking outstanding purchase orders and expecting to spend the funds on schedule.

Eliza Salmon, director of ARPA implementation in the finance cabinet, said the city allocated the ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund award across 127 projects managed by 20 departments and that the largest share, 43 percent, went to housing. "My name is Eliza Salmon. I'm the director of ARPA implementation in the finance cabinet," she told the committee and said the administration was tracking balances, meeting regularly with departments and updating the public spending dashboard at boston.gov/recover.

Rick Wilson, director of administration and finance at the mayor's office of housing, detailed housing…