Week of December 6, 2021
💸 - ARPA - An overview
Since June of this year, we've provided you with over 20 different updates on ARPA through the CivicLex Weekly. Given that ARPA decisions are ending soon, we thought we would take a step back and devote a whole issue of the Weekly to where things stand.
But first, here's the short version, in case you don't want to read the whole thing:
Lexington has ~$120M of Federal dollars to spend on projects that help Lexington recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
Council is closing in on allocating all of the ARPA money and will likely finalize everything between today and the end of January.
The ARPA Projects we talk about here are generally in one of two statuses:
Approved - these projects have been added to the budget and are for sure moving forward.
Advanced - these are projects Council has voted to move to a final list. That list will then be culled, depending on the size.
Council has fully approved $38.7M in ARPA projects. You can see those projects here, in CivicLex's ARPA Database.
Since approving these projects, Council has been advancing projects by grouping together similar types of projects. They will go through another round of vetting.
As of now, Council has advanced or approved $169M in ARPA projects, more than the $120M they have - and there are still projects to review!
They'll finalize which of these projects will get approval between now and the end of January.
See the complete list of projects - both approved and advanced here.
🏢 - This week in City Hall
Before we get into the all the ARPA details, here are a few things to watch this week in City Hall:
Council has several important meetings the week of December 6:
Environmental Quality & Public Works meets at 1pm on Tuesday in Council Chambers.
At 3pm on Tuesday, they will have a Committee of the Whole to discuss Redistricting. This will likely be the last Redistricting discussion, after this it will probably be approved.
There is a Work Session scheduled for the same time, so it's unclear how that's playing out.
At 5pm on Tuesday, they will have a Council Meeting.
On Thursday, December 9 at 1pm, Council will have a Committee of the Whole to continue discussing ARPA projects.
Two new people have filed to run for city offices:
Mayor - William Weyman, who ran in the Mayoral 2018 election, has filed.
District 6 CM - Denise Gray, an educator who recently ran for State Senate, has filed.
💸 - What ARPA funded-projects have been fully approved?
Lexington's first ARPA allocations happened in the Mayor's FY21/22 budget.
The Administration set aside about $7.9M for various park improvements and other projects, including $1.3M for a new irrigation system for Lakeside Golf Course and $750,000 for infrastructure improvements on Shropshire Avenue.
After the Mayor's budget passed, Lexington's Urban County Council took control of the allocation process for the remainder of ARPA funds.
You can read all about Council's process on our ARPA page.
Council has already approved several proposals that were priorities for individual members. Fully approved projects include:
$17.9M for premium pay for LFUCG staff and first responders
$10M for Affordable Housing
$1.4M for a COVID-19 Winter Shelter
$1M for VisitLex
And more!
You can find a list of all fully approved projects in our ARPA database.
💸 - What ARPA-funded projects is Council advancing?
Council has advanced several projects but hasn't given them final approval. This means that Council will still need to approve them at a Council Meeting, likely in January 2022.
In the November 4th Committee of the Whole, four proposals advanced:
$9M in capital projects for nonprofits
$1M for the Black & Williams Community Center
$991k for Commerce Lexington's Minority Business Accelerator
$240k for a ONE Lexington mentoring program
After these advanced, Council transitioned to a new way of advancing projects - now they are moving forward whole categories at a specific funding level.
Here's what has advanced:
$12.4M for Housing Stabilization and Homelessness, including:
$5.6M for a solar energy efficiency program for low-income homeowners
$2M for the Hope Center
$2M for the Salvation Army
$32M for Parks and Greenspace, including:
$10M for parks projects
$10M for Cardinal Run North Park
$10M to buy land for a Sports Complex
$1M for a professional Disc Golf course
$15M for Public Health, including:
$9.7M for a permanent home for the Farmers Market in the Davis Park neighborhood
$2.5M for the urban tree canopy
$2M for a Dental Hygienist program at BCTC
$21M for Critical Government Services, including:
$11M for the Fire Department
$6M for purchasing Police fleet vehicles
$1M for a new Salt Barn
$8M for Administration & Construction Contingency
$2.3M for Youth Violence Intervention, including:
$1M for Village Branch Library renovations
$960k for Summer Youth Employment
$27.8M for Economic Opportunity, including:
$17.5M for Infrastructure in the Coldstream Business Area
$10M for a competitive Economic Development opportunity
💸 - What's next with ARPA?
There are two main aspects of ARPA that the Council still needs to iron out:
Council hasn't finished reviewing all the projects that their subgroups sent to the full Council.
Council has advanced $169M in ARPA projects, but they only have $120M in ARPA funds, so they'll have to either cut some projects or find alternative ways to fund them.
Let's start with the first one. Here are a few projects that are on the Council's that they haven't discussed yet:
$5M for renovations for the Downtown Arts Center
$20M for an Arts & Culture Master Plan and accompanying projects
$12.5M for bike/ped improvements along Versailles Road
$7M for a Childcare facility in Davis Park
Council will likely address these projects and more in a 1pm COW on Thursday, December 9, 2021, in Council Chambers.
The second problem (which may be compounded by the first) is that Council has advanced more money for projects than they have.
As indicated in the December 2 COW, the current plan is that the Council will take up the entire list of advanced items in January.
Over the next month, the Mayor's Administration will analyze the final list of advanced items. Their analysis will ensure the cost estimates are correct and consider if alternative funding streams could work for some projects.
Have questions about ARPA? The best person to reach out to would be your council member!
Want to ask us? Just send us an email at info@civiclex.org.