By Keith Burbank. Bay City News.
Bay Area could get $1 trillion to boost equity, largely discretionary from the American Bailout Act, were not yet committed to Bay Area projects in December, according to the Area Equity Atlas de la Bahía, a tool for tracking racial and economic equity in the region.
The unobligated funds provide city and county leaders with the opportunity to make the region a more equitable place to live over the next three and a half years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on and exacerbated long-standing inequalities in African American and Hispanic communities, among others. With the money, leaders could develop projects to promote equity.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) passed by Congress in 2021 provided money to help Americans weather the COVID-19 pandemic, including $350 billion for state and local governments through the State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF).
The Bay Area's $1 billion in unobligated ARPA funds is a small portion of the SLFRF that states, cities and counties must commit to projects by the end of next year and spend by the end of 2026 or lose the money anyway.
Fifty percent of ARPA dollars were dispersed in 2021 and the remainder in 2022.
“The pandemic decimated Black and Brown families, further entrenching racial and economic inequality,” said Jennifer Tran, director of PolicyLink, which produces the Bay Area Equity Atlas with the San Francisco Foundation and USC’s Dornsife Equity Research Institute.
“Bay Area governments must make targeted, permanent investments with the remaining $1 billion in SLFRF funds that move communities toward a more equitable and sustainable future—one that ensures the health and well-being of the region and all its communities for generations to come,” Tran said.
Two-thirds of the roughly $3 billion in Bay Area SLFRF had already been committed by the region's cities and counties in December.
State and local fiscal recovery funds are just one part of the $1.9 trillion federal ARPA package that follows the dispersal of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds that went to states and large cities in 2020.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bay Area Equity Atlas compiled data on unobligated and unspent SLFRF for nine counties and 34 of the Bay Area’s 101 cities.
“ARPA funding has been critical to keeping Bay Area communities and the economy afloat during the pandemic,” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who is president of the Association of Bay Area Governments, a regional planning agency.
Arreguin wants to see the remaining funds spent on transit operations and emergency rental assistance.
ARPA provided $30.5 billion for transit and that funding is separate from SLFRF. Ninety-three percent of ARPA's transit money has been obligated and 67 percent has been spent.
“Regional transit systems were relying on vital funding that will disappear and the eviction cliff requires more funding to help landlords and tenants cover rental debt,” Arreguin said. “These are ongoing lingering impacts of the COVID emergency.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said his city has used ARPA funds to “keep people housed, address food insecurity and provide other essential services to our most vulnerable neighbors.”
San Jose officials in May spent or obligated all of the roughly $45 million in SLFRF remaining out of the $212 million they had received in total.
San Jose officials feared they might have to return some of the uncommitted or unspent money after Congress approved a deal to suspend the debt limit.
Cities and counties can spend the money in four broad categories: 1) replacing lost revenue, 2) public health and economic relief, 3) paying premiums for essential workers, and 4) investing in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.
Under U.S. Treasury rules, San Jose could use the $212 million to offset lost revenue to pay for services.
San Jose Budget Director Jim Shannon and Finance Director Rick Bruneau said in a May 24 memo to Mahan and the City Council that the city lost more than $212 million in revenue because of the pandemic. The memo said nearly $88 million will go toward police patrol costs.
Oakland allocated all of its money to replace general fund revenues. San Francisco received about $624 million in SLFRF and spent it all on revenue replacement across all city departments.
In Santa Clara County, which received about $374 million, 53 percent of its SLFRF was not allocated in December. Thirty percent of Alameda County's roughly $325 million was unobligated at the end of last year.
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