IOWA CITY, Iowa -Iowa City seeks community input via a survey on how to spend $18.3 million awarded to the city through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
In March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act. This legislation established the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, which provides significant resources to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to support urgent COVID-19 response efforts, such as:
- Responding to the pandemic’s public health and economic impacts on families and households, the workforce, businesses, and non-profits
- Providing premium pay to eligible public sector essential workers or grants to employers with eligible essential workers
- Replacing lost public sector revenue and restoring government service levels
- Investing in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure
Of the $18.3 million allocated by the US Treasury to Iowa City; half will be received in the coming months, and the remaining balance will be received 12 months later. ARPA provides municipalities broad flexibility on how to spend these funds within the four categories.
In order to best allocate the ARPA funds, the city government has created a survey to receive community feedback on how they think the funds should be allocated. Residents can take the full survey online.
The survey is the first step of a larger effort to gather community feedback on how to best spend ARPA funds. City Council members and city staff plan to work with residents, businesses, non-profits, and other community stakeholders to ensure a transparent process.
For more information on the funds and the feedback process, please visit icgov.org/ARPA.
