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Kokomo mayor says city encumbered nearly $20 million in ARPA funds; $4 million remains under contract
Summary
Mayor Tyler Moore told the Kokomo City Common Council that Kokomo received $19,893,216 in federal ARPA funds in 2021, that $10 million was used as revenue replacement, $9,893,216 was used for restricted infrastructure and community development projects, and about $4,000,000 remains encumbered but unspent.
Mayor Tyler Moore reported to the Kokomo City Common Council that Kokomo City received $19,893,216 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in 2021 and that the city met the federal requirement to encumber all funds by Dec. 31, 2024.
Moore told the council that $10,000,000 of the total was treated as revenue replacement — a capped category under the federal rules — and the remaining $9,893,216 was restricted for infrastructure and community development projects. "We successfully achieved that goal, scrambled a little bit at the end, but found some very worthwhile uses for those funds," Moore said.
The mayor said about $4,000,000 remains under contract but has not yet been spent. He described a range of projects paid from the restricted and unrestricted portions of the allocation: restroom and splash-pad preparations at Jackson Morrow Park; water and sanitary-line work along Pipeline to make parcels marketable; drainage work and boulevard flooding mitigation near the Stellantis plant (with Indiana Finance Authority and other matching funds); participation in upgrading the Taylor township sewer system in partnership with the county; and phases of Markland Avenue reconstruction.
Moore listed community-development investments funded by the ARPA allocation including the Howard County Food Access Alliance and a food-insecurity study that led to the alliance; Ivy Tech workforce development's Industry 4 lab; a community commercial kitchen in partnership with the Downtown Association; a nonprofit grant program to aid local nonprofits affected by the pandemic; and a feasibility study for Carver. He said a category of projects billed as "incentives" supported infrastructure work needed by housing developments rather than direct cash payments to developers.
On parks and quality-of-life spending Moore included several items funded from the revenue-replacement portion: EV charger infrastructure, improvements at Center Road, playground upgrades, a putt-putt course, Cutler Park upgrades including new pickleball and tennis courts, Kokomo Municipal Stadium (lighting, turf and other repairs), Northwest Park scoreboards and playgrounds, additional lighting and netting at Championship Park, and a new pump track at Northside Park. He also cited equipment purchases for departments: additional automated trash trucks for the street department and a second set of turnout gear for all city firefighters.
Moore thanked the council for working with the administration during the ARPA allocation process, saying he met biweekly with up to four council members while the list of projects evolved. He offered to make the project list available to council members and said the administration will report as the remaining contracted projects are completed.
No formal council action or vote on the ARPA report was recorded in the transcript; Moore presented the summary and invited questions but the meeting moved on to the next agenda item.
