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Corona reports full obligation of ARPA funds, reallocates some prior-year costs to meet federal deadline
Summary
Staff told the council the city obligated its $29.2 million in ARPA funds by the federal obligation deadline, detailed which projects are complete or underway and said several previously incurred project costs were reclassified to ARPA to avoid returning funds to Treasury.
Budget Supervisor Luis Navarro reported to the Corona City Council that the city has obligated its full American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation and is on track to expense obligations by the federal deadline.
Navarro said the city’s ARPA share totaled $29.2 million and that staff met the December 31, 2024 obligation deadline. He told the council that all funds must be expensed by December 31, 2026.
How ARPA funds were used: Navarro said the city allocated $6.68 million to projects addressing negative economic impacts and $22.49 million to revenue replacement. He listed completed and in-progress projects funded or partially funded with ARPA, including: - Downtown commercial beautification grants (five awards since the last update). - Traffic signal optimization (notice to proceed issued last month; contractor mobilized). - South Mall parking-lot rehabilitation (under construction; scheduled for mid-summer completion). - Demolition of an old police building (underway; expected completion by August). - Communications studio construction (completed; equipment/furniture procurement moved to general fund).
Navarro reported $4.85 million of prior-year homeless program expenditures were reclassified to ARPA and said similar reclassifications were used for other projects to ensure the city did not have to return funds to the U.S. Treasury. He confirmed staff will submit the next quarterly report at the end of the month and that he will present another ARPA update in six months at the fall policy workshop.
Council questions focused on Treasury reporting status and project details. Council members asked whether the city’s quarterly report is visible on the U.S. Treasury dashboard; Navarro said he would verify that federal reporting is up to date. On the fire-station rebuild project, Navarro said roughly $2.4 million has been expended and about $2.8 million remains in current encumbrances for architecture, construction management and alerting-system equipment; he said design and construction plans are being reevaluated given higher-than-expected costs and that some ARPA-funded elements (such as the storage building and alerting equipment) remain committed.
What happens next: staff will continue to monitor project schedules, report obligations to Treasury and bring a progress update at the fall policy workshop. Navarro told council that remaining ARPA-eligible project components will be completed or funded using other sources where ARPA obligations have been finalized.
