Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Arpa Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Harrisburg officials brief council on ARPA spending, explain shift to revenue replacement
Summary
City administration reviewed spending from the American Rescue Plan Act, explained how earlier program authorizations were reallocated to revenue replacement and the state grants fund, and told council that U.S. Treasury reporting obligations tied to the original ARPA allotment have been satisfied.
Council President Hill opened a policy work session Tuesday to discuss spending priorities tied to the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocations and to answer council questions about where the money currently sits.
The presentation by administration presenter Mister Ziolkowski said the city was allocated "$447,073,625" in ARPA funding and that the funds had been appropriated through multiple bills and resolutions, including Bill 5 of 02/2023 and resolutions 17, 24 and 53 of 02/2024. Ziolkowski summarized that portions of earlier program authorizations were subsequently moved into revenue replacement and the state grants fund.
Why this matters: council members expressed confusion about whether money that appeared to be earmarked for specific programs—affordable housing, community grants, an ADA playground and workforce development—remained available for those programs or had been rolled into general-purpose revenue replacement. The administration said that, for accounting and budgetary purposes, money moved from the ARPA revenue line into the city’s general fund and then into the state grants fund, and that some program authorizations were not reappropriated in later resolutions.
Administration told the council that the mechanics are deliberate. As one official explained, "the general fund acted like a pass through, and it was transferred to the state grant fund." That official added that because the state grants fund requires appropriation authority each year, programs that were not reappropriated for 2025 currently have no authorization in the 2025 budget even though money remains in the grants fund.
Council members asked for clearer, line‑by‑line accounting. Several members said the slides shown during the presentation did not reflect post‑resolution revisions or the amounts now sitting in different internal funds. The presenter said the revised numbers for resolutions 17 and 24 would appear on subsequent slides and that administration would provide supplemental detail afterward.
Administration also summarized that transfers to revenue replacement totaled about $12,681,933 across identified bills and resolutions; that amount reflects transfers labeled in legislation as "revenue replacement," distinct from line items retained for program spending. An administration official said some of that transferred money has already been spent down.
Council members repeatedly asked administration to publish an accessible reconciliation showing: original appropriation; amounts spent; amounts encumbered; amounts reallocated; and amounts currently available in the grants fund. Members and members of the public said they wanted those reconciliations posted to provide a transparent record of how ARPA funds have been used.
The meeting ended with council taking no formal spending action during the session; administration committed to supplying more detailed accounting and to following up with documents and spreadsheets that reflect the revisions and transfers discussed.
