Finance committee hears ARPA quarterly report; staff says funds were obligated and treasury closeout guidance still pending

Patty and Sarah presented Lee County’s quarterly report on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, telling the Finance Committee that the county’s $6.6 million award was fully obligated by the Dec. 31, 2024 deadline and that staff submitted the annual Treasury report on April 22, 2025.

Patty said staff are seeing increasing Treasury requests for detail in annual reports; she explained the county has reopened some previously closed expenditures in the reporting portal to provide additional required information. Patty said Treasury’s immediate priority remains verifying whether jurisdictions obligated funds by the statutory deadline, and that Treasury staff are monitoring compliance and recovering funds where expenditures were inconsistent with program rules.

Committee members asked whether the county could measure the economic impact of ARPA projects. Patty and Sarah said the county tracks expenditures to the penny and that many ARPA projects — notably HVAC repairs and small‑business grants — were intended to preserve county operations and local businesses during the pandemic. They said the county could analyze capital balances and small‑business grant data to produce an economic impact narrative, but that Treasury reporting requirements currently focus on obligation and eligible use rather than local economic return metrics.

Patty noted a typographical error on the report that listed Dec. 31, 2025 as the obligation deadline; she corrected it to Dec. 31, 2024 and said a final wrap‑up presentation is planned for December 2025, at which point the county will present a summary of projects and expenditures.