LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas has until the end of the year to decide what to do with nearly $77 million in COVID-19 relief money.
It comes from the American Rescue Plan ACT (ARPA) of 2021, which Congress passed as a $1.9 trillion jolt to the nation’s economy post-pandemic.
“If you look at the state, we received $1.57 billion,” said Scott Hardin, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) spokesman.
Hardin stressed that the state did not receive all the money from ARPA; the rest went directly to cities or other agencies.
The $1.57 billion is what went to the state government, and with some restrictions listed in the act, they could decide what to do with it.
"Within the qualifying... it had to fall within some qualifying uses,” Hardin said. “But there was $1.57 billion in 2021, and the state's position was determining where that money was directed."
The deadline to assign the money is Dec. 31, and all the money must be given out by the end of 2026.
According to State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, the current budget chair for the Senate, nearly $77 million of the original $1.57 billion is still left, and he wants to ensure the state gets the biggest bang for its buck.
"Initially, it was to help make sure that hospitals had the supplies, testing and resources that they need,” Dismang said. “There was a nursing shortage, so we were able to help out with that. Along with that, there were several other programs that the federal government put in place that weren't even directly related to COVID but were a benefit to the state of Arkansas."
Dismang and Hardin both said while there is still technically $76.8 million outstanding, they have a good idea of where most of that will go.
“There's about $72 million of that that's directed towards our K-12 schools,” Dismang said. “Making sure that we have literacy coaches and merit pay and other things to incentivize a better learning environment for our students."
Hardin said that there’ll be around $3.6 million left when all is said and done.
Because of the deadline, a decision will have to be made by the end of the year, but it's anyone's guess where that money will go.
"I'm sure there will be plenty of ideas,” Dismang said. “We'll hear from those soon, but most people are going to direct those thoughts to the governor's office or the administration. We'll get something from them soon enough to make sure that we're fully utilizing the dollars that have been sent to the state.”
As far as the ARPA funds that didn’t go to the state government, Hardin said that Arkansas cities received $422 million total, with Arkansas’s 75 counties getting a combined $586 million.
Please click here for a complete list of where the state's $1.57 billion ARPA funds have gone so far.