In response to a Public Record Request, the City of Santa Rosa has responded to questions on the use of its American Rescue Program Act federal allocation. HEAPA obtained from them last month their quarterly report to the U.S. Treasury, and raised questions about it. Our email, and the City response re below:
Greetings!
Thank you very much for your prompt response to my public records request for the City’s quarterly report to the Treasury Department on the use of American Rescue Program Act funds. I have incorporated the information in it into the original spreadsheet you provided me when the City allocated ARPA and PG&E funding (attached). By doing so, I can better understand the progress of the programs begun by it, and the changes you have made to the City’s original decisions.
What is clear from the report is that the City has declared obligations to spend $22,629,794, and has expended $16,660,661 against those obligations. That leaves a balance of expenditures of a little under $6 million. Maxing out the expenditures on remaining obligations, you should be able to spend about $3.5 million of those remaining funds within your program design. That will leave $2.5 million in funds to be re-obligated before December 31, 2024. How and when will the Council make those additional obligations?
The only other question I have is “What happened to the original obligation of $10 million for the Roseland Community Center?” The quarterly report seems to indicate that it has been shifted into the category of “Revenue Replacement”. Your report states “Funding under the revenue loss provision will be allocated towards Roseland Community Center. Construction of Roseland Community Center would provide a publicly owned Community Center in Roseland which would ensure a culturally safe space and sense of belonging, would reflect the voices of the community in the design process, represent an equitable investment in the City infrastructure for the newly annexed Roseland, and provide more opportunities for the City’s youth and elders.” May I assume that the shift to Revenue Replacement accounts for the drop in overall obligations from $34,937,000 originally to the current figure of $22,629,794? The City is still going to apply the ARPA funding to the Roseland Community Center, correct?
Again, thanks for the report.
Gregory Fearon
Hi Gregory,
I’ll try to answer your questions below, but I’m also available if you want talk this through – just let me know and I’ll set something up. Also, staff will be presenting an update to Council on the use of all ARPA funds scheduled for November 12.
To date, Santa Rosa has spent or encumbered approximately $24.8 million. All funds must be spent or under contract by December 31, 2024, or the funds not under contract would be returned to US Treasury.
There have been no changes to the initial allocation of $10 million for the “Roseland Community Center,” which is now known as the Hearn Community Hub project. The designation of Revenue Replacement reflects the type of expenditure category allowed in the ARPA legislation and US Treasury guidance. Treasury allows jurisdictions to claim a lump sum of $10 million to cover revenue losses, and those funds could be used for general government services, which provided more flexibility to use the funds on that capital project. In the initial ruling from Treasury, the use of funds on capital projects were restrictive, so the change in guidance benefited the City.
Treasury recently provided guidance on the use of ARPA funds for certain transportation projects. This allowed us to move $2 million from the Samuel Jones Hall Capital Projects allocation to the Hearn Community Hub project for site development. This was another benefit to the City as the SJH projects likely wouldn’t have met the obligation deadline, and would have been challenging to justify with Treasury. I’ve attached the staff report from the December 12, 2023, that discussed this move, along with an update on the other projects.
I hope this helps. Again, I’m available to meet to discuss in more detail if you’d like.
Alan
Alan Alton | Chief Financial Officer
Finance Department
90 Santa Rosa Avenue | Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Tel. (707) 543-3093 | Cell (707) 312-4413 |aalton@srcity.org
Homeless Emergency Assistance Program Association 