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Finance staff outline ARPAwindfall, reserves and spending patterns
Summary
Finance staff presented historical revenue and expenditure activity to show how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds affected the city's general-fund balance and reserves, and answered commissioners' questions about how much ARPA money remains available.
Finance staff presented a historical review intended to show how ARPA funds changed the citygeneral-fund revenues and fund balance. The presentation traced revenues and appropriations beginning in 2021 and showed a sharp increase in general-fund revenues in 202122 when the ARPA funds were received; staff described a net increase to fund balance at that time and subsequent drawdowns in later years as the city increased expenditures.
Staff said the arrival of the federal revenue-replacement funds produced a multi-million-dollar positive net in the year the funds were received and that subsequent budgets spent portions of those funds, producing a lower carry-forward balance in later years. Finance noted the FY24 numbers were not yet audited and are subject to change.
When asked how much ARPA remained in the current carry-forward number, staff said the cityfund-balance figure used for budgeting is approximately $13.8 million and that the unrestricted portion, after reserving stabilization and rainy-day funds and an earmarked fire-truck purchase, is roughly $7 million. Staff also described fund-balance line items as stabilization (20% listed), rainy-day (17%) and an approximately $1.2 million committed fire-truck purchase for 2029; those reservations were taken from the presented slide and Q&A.
Commissioners pressed staff on how much of the ARPA receipts had been spent; finance staff said the original ARPA award was discussed in the presentation with differing informal figures in the exchange, and that a precise reconciliation of ARPA receipts versus what would have been expected absent a pandemic requires detailed analysis. Finance told commissioners they believe a significant portion remains but that the exact unspent ARPA amount would require staff follow-up.
