PROVIDENCE – Mayor Brett P. Smiley on Tuesday released a proposed $20 million overhaul of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act budget approved under the previous mayoral administration, reducing a number of line items and increasing funding for infrastructure, housing development and city services.
The amendments are scheduled to be introduced to the City Council at its Oct. 19 meeting.
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According to the Smiley administration, $81.4 million has been allocated to date. A majority of the $85 million in remaining funds, about $64 million, is already obligated or tied to approved expenditures.
The city received $166 million in ARPA funds from the U.S. Treasury, in May 2021 and assembled the COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Task Force. The group held a series of community forums and accepted public feedback on how the funds should be spent.
In a Tuesday statement explaining the rationale for the changes, Smiley said his administration’s comprehensive review of the ARPA budget that began after he took office in January uncovered instances where the one-time funding was geared toward programs that would create long-term financial obligations that could not be incorporated in the city’s budget or “weren’t appropriately funded to meet the intention of the initiative.”
“We have one opportunity to use this unprecedented funding,” said Smiley. “My administration has carefully reviewed each line item and believe that while there have been some great investments made thus far, there are some allocations that need to be modified.”
The largest shift moves over $10 million dollars into the $27.2 million Providence Redevelopment Agency Housing Trust to support the creation of affordable housing, increasing that line item by 60%.
The proposal creates a $1 million investment in the Cranston Street Armory; adds $2.77 million to Emergency Housing Solutions; $1 million for city parking meter replacement; and $3 million to India Point Resiliency Investments, among other changes.
The $7 million relief for small business line item would be reduced to $851,174, with a proposal to create a “Neighborhood Infrastructure Fund” with $6.1 million.
Proposed cuts include scrapping the $1.4 million approved for an “Adaptive Reuse Program,” meant to “encourage main street beautification projects and redevelopment of the neighborhoods and commercial corridors most impacted by COVID-19 by enhancing their visual aesthetics, with the goal of increasing property values, tenant occupancy, economic development and job creation,” according to the original budget summary.
Also eliminated would be $1.7 million for “Resiliency Infrastructure in Frontline Communities,” to help overcome technical and financial barriers for low-to-moderate income homeowners and nonprofits to be prepared for climate change by making sustainable investments in their homes or facilities.
There is also a $9.3 million reduction of the “Downtown Open Spaces” initiative to improve Greater Kennedy Plaza area and Waterplace Park; and a decrease of a Justice Reform line item from $2.95 million to $1.68 million.
The $820,000 reserved for Workforce Development for COVID-19 Impacted Individuals is also proposed to be eliminated; and $4 million to expand so-called “rapid rehousing” would be cut to $1.2 million.
The $10 million COVID-19 Equities Program, commonly referred to as racial reparations, was left intact. The proposal would also mandate that any funding unspent by July 1, 2024, be used to purchase electric vehicles for the city.
Per federal law, these funds must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
The administration said the proposed reallocations are aligned with the original recommendations of the task force and that officials are now working with the council “to ensure that the amended ordinance reflects our shared priority of wanting to get the most out of these federal dollars.”
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com
“Much ado about nothing.”