Springfield receives over $200 million worth of requests for $26.6 million in remaining federal aid

Andrew Sullender, Springfield News-Leader
·3 min read

Of the $40 million the city has received in the last round of emergency coronavirus aid, Springfield has $26.6 million remaining to dole out to different projects that have applied.

That task is complicated by the more than $200 million worth of requests for the funds that city council has received.

The $1.9 trillion ARPA was signed into law by President Joe Biden in March of last year. More than $673 billion of those funds were set aside for state and local governments.

City council has previously allocated $8 million of the funds to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and $6 million toward retention payments for city police, fire and health workers.

So far, the city has received 67 proposals or applications for funds — adding up to a total of $215.5 million of requests.

These range from a $16 million request from faith-based food pantry and emergency shelter Victory Mission to a $5,000 request from Freeway Ministries.

More: City council adopts equity and inclusion guidelines, incorporates them into official priorities

In a report to council, the requests were broken into 7 categories.

  • Health — 4 proposals; $1.1 million total cost

  • Tourism, Travel & Hospitality — 12 proposals; $68.8 million total cost

  • Homelessness — 15 proposals; $70.3 million total cost

  • New facilities/maintenance — 22 proposals; $30.8 million total cost

  • Public safety — 6 proposals; $6.9 million total cost

  • Stormwater —3 proposals; $19 million total cost

  • Other/miscellaneous — 5 proposals; $4.8 million total cost

Councilmembers have promised to adhere closely to the results of a community survey conducted last year. The poll found Springfield residents want the city to focus their ARPA money on crime, health and homeless services.

Residents were asked to rank different priorities on a five-point scale. The following is the percentage of surveyed residents who assigned a particular priority the highest ranking.

  • Public safety and crime prevention - 55 percent

  • Homeless and housing services – 40 percent

  • Community health and wellness – 37 percent

  • Premium pay for essential workers – 36 percent

  • Stabilizing and revitalizing neighborhoods – 29 percent

  • Quality of Life – 29 percent

  • Economic recovery and growth – 24 percent

  • Public facility preservation and enhancement – 22 percent

In the ARPA subcommittee initial meeting, councilmembers created "suggested criteria" by which they would judge funding proposals.

More: Springfield City Council meets to discuss how to spend remaining $26 million in ARPA funds

During the meeting, city manager Jason Gage stressed these criteria were "unrefined" and needed to be weighed by priority.

"Criteria have not been reviewed and refined officially by this subcommittee, and I think that will need to happen as you look further and try to figure out your priorities," Gage said.

Councilmembers in the subcommittee agreed and planned to make those refinements at their next meeting, which will take place sometime in May.

"We should decide which of the review criteria we should be focused on, " said councilwoman Heather Hardinger. "We have a bunch of projects only a certain amount of money, so we probably need to focus on only certain types of projects."

Here is a list of the subcommittee's unrefined review criteria.

  • ARPA Project completion timeline

  • Cost sharing opportunity

  • Future operational/programmatic costs

  • COVID health relief/recovery needs

  • Meets city council priorities

  • Community economic transformational impact

  • Addresses underfunded city projects/equipment

  • Alignment with public engagement survey

Some of the funds already allocated might be used elsewhere, city administrators suggested at the meeting. The Heath Department has received several federal grants that have covered COVID-related costs and has left the $8 million untouched. If another wave of the virus does not roll through southwest Missouri, the ARPA funds could be reallocated to other priorities.

"We want to give ourselves enough time to know if we will have another variant wave and I'd like to think that we can make that decision at least by the end of this calendar year," said Gage.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Over $200 million in requests for Springfield's remaining ARPA aid