Federal officials estimate that local governments now have spending plans in place for most of the money they received under a prominent pandemic relief law
. In some cases, it's hard to know exactly how the money is being used, because some governments haven't supplied details about their projects. Joplin officials say they have big plans for $13.8 million of pandemic relief funds the tornado-ravaged southwestern Missouri city received under a two-year-old federal law. Yet the latest federal records show none of the money has been spent — or even budgeted.
Over the past couple years, it leveraged the pandemic aid to win millions of additional dollars of state grants. With the combined funds, it plans to relaunch an expired post-tornado program that helps people make down-payments on homes. The city also plans to spend millions of dollars to repair or demolish old houses.The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan
The actual amount of spending commitments likely is well over 80% when accounting for lag times and different reporting approaches taken by local governments, said Gene Sperling, the White House American Rescue Plan coordinator Among other things, the money helped finance an upscale hotel in Florida, a minor league baseball stadium in New York and prisons in Alabama —Some governments waited to do anything with the money until the Treasury Department finalized its rules in April 2022. Details are lacking on how some governments are using their funds becausefor any money categorized by state or local officials as a replacement for lost revenues.
Those were “essential things that really needed to be done and would cost more if we waited longer to address them,” she said. “This is taxpayer money, and a lot of it," said Moulton, adding: “There should be accountability that follows it.”
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