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St. Augustine Beach staff outline plan to allocate roughly $697,000 remaining in ARPA funds
Summary
City Manager Max presented a draft list of capital and maintenance items to spend the remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds (about $697,000), including police and public works vehicles, sidewalks, park repairs and an electronic sign; staff will bring a budget resolution at the next meeting to start allocations.
City Manager Max told the commission on June 2 that roughly $697,000 remained of the city's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and staff had developed a draft spending list to move projects forward before the ARPA deadlines.
Max said the list reallocates some items from the city's 10‑year capital plan, spreads purchases across departments and leaves about $35,000 unallocated as a contingency for construction overages. "The 35,000, we've just kinda left there because when we do purchases, we do run into overages sometimes," Max said.
The draft allocations include replacement vehicles for police and public works, targeted sidewalk repairs (the presentation noted a proposal for a connector sidewalk behind the plaza on Second Avenue), park and dock repairs, and an electronic message board for city event promotion. Max said staff intended to begin purchases in the fiscal year once the commission approves a budget resolution; he said the next commission meeting will include a resolution to move ARPA funds into specific line items so work can begin.
Public comment urged caution on spending the remaining contingency until the TDC (Tourist Development Council) decision on a splash‑park ask is resolved; Nick Bender, a resident, also suggested using ARPA for auxiliary power at pump stations if the vulnerability assessment identifies that need.
Commissioners generally supported using ARPA to accelerate projects already on the capital plan rather than adding new long‑term obligations and asked staff to return with detailed cost estimates where needed. No formal appropriation or vote occurred at the meeting; staff said they will return with a budget resolution for action at the next meeting.
