Episode 86: ARP Deadline Ahead
We called it once-a-generation legislation when Congress passed it in 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act provided $1.9 trillion across the nation to restrengthen from the global pandemic that hurt so many communities. For their part, the cities and towns of North Carolina got about $1.3 billion -- and there's an important deadline coming up with it, which you can learn more about at arp.nclm.org. We're joined on this episode by NCLM's Stephanie Hughes, who has traveled to various municipalities across the state to see how they've put ARP resources to great use, and advises us on the reporting deadline ahead. Municipal Equation is a production of the N.C. League of Municipalities, https://www.nclm.org. Contact host/producer Ben Brown at bbrown@nclm.org. 'I Love NC Local Government' participation
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Transcript
Across North Carolina, Civic Credit Union applauds dedicated local government employees who make a difference in our communities through their dedicated service. In honor of those efforts, Civic Credit Union kicked off a campaign titled I love NC Local Government, in which local government employees and Civic Credit Union members are featured to showcase the impact they make every single day in their roles. Each participant is provided a branded t shirt designed specifically for the campaign. Also, the participants share why they are passionate about their local government career and the community they serve by providing a quote or video testimonial while wearing the branded t shirt. Members of the NC League of Municipalities have received information in their weekly league letter on how to directly participate. You can learn more about Civic Credit Union at civicfcu.org. From the North Carolina League of Municipalities, this is Municipal Equation, a podcast about cities and towns. Hey, folks. This is Ben Brown with the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and we're back with another episode of your longtime favorite podcast about cities and towns, Municipal Equation, digging into all the things that municipal governments do in North Carolina and how our lives are made better by them, what the challenges are, and what the new ideas and bridging issues are. And for this episode, I thought we could check-in, kinda catch up, and take a look at how things have been going, and underline one of the big deadlines coming up with one of the biggest pieces of federal legislation in history, something we heard a lot about when it landed. And since then, we've been collecting stories from the road on how this piece of legislation has helped out our communities. I'm talking about the American Rescue Plan or ARP or ARPA, which of course is a national thing, but we're gonna catch up a little bit on how that's going for the cities and towns of North Carolina and what the League of Municipalities does in the mix. Though you might already know that the League is deeply involved with the implementation and success of the American Rescue Plan in the state of North Carolina, certainly at least as it pertains to municipalities, the cities and towns of North Carolina. So we're gonna talk about what's happening with that on this episode today. Just a moment ago, I called ARP one of the biggest pieces of federal legislation ever. And certainly, we can say that we've never seen anything like it in terms of its magnitude and why it came to be. And before we get to our guest today, Stephanie Hughes, who works directly on ARP issues and communications with the League of Municipalities, let's just do a little bit of review. The American Rescue Plan Act, which again people shorten to ARPA or just ARP, is federal legislation from early twenty twenty one that marked $1,900,000,000,000 to allocate across the nation for recovery from the pandemic to get back to where we need to be economically so we can thrive. Of that $1,900,000,000,000 more than $8,000,000,000 or almost 9 went to North Carolina. And of that amount, the cities and towns here got about $1,300,000,000 $1,300,000,000 directly appropriated. And as we've said many times here at the League, this package really was a once in a generation type of thing for cities and towns to get that kind of federal funding, to spend on the kind of things they need to get to where they need to be. And as we point out at the league, this wasn't just some windfall. It wasn't just some magic moment like winning the lottery or anything like that. This is all from the context of crisis and hardship and recovery from a global pandemic and doing what we need to do to get back into shape economically, which rolls into all kinds of aspects of our daily quality of life where we live. To quote from our own literature here at the League, we say this money is critical and used to provide the key public services that our residents rely on, public safety, infrastructure, water, and more. And as our citizens struggled through the pandemic, our municipalities suffered as a result. And as our municipalities suffered, our citizens were harmed even more. This issue has been the top priority for the North Carolina League of Municipalities, end quote. That's from arp.nclm.0rg. Again, the website is arp.nclm.0rg. And that'll take you to our municipal accounting services part of the website. That's the front door for learning about ARP. Again, Municipal Accounting Services. So ARP and what cities and towns are doing with it and how we're helping with all of that. Municipal Accounting Services from NCLM, that's the place. It's really no small thing, and so we're gonna bring in someone right now to talk about this, how it's going, catch us up on what cities and towns are actually spending those allocations on, and how we're making sure it all goes smoothly. This is an interview I recorded a little while back, and I can tell you we've gathered more stories to tell since then. And pay attention to a deadline coming up that we're gonna talk about at the end of the year. Anyway, let's get right to it.
Well, Stephanie, could you introduce yourself and give us your title here at the league and, just kinda generally what you do for us? Sure. My name is Stephanie Hughes, and I am the communications and multimedia
strategist for the league, specifically in the ARP department. So mainly, I guess, the main thing I have been tasked with is working alongside and on behalf of our towns to help them tell their stories of how they've been using these ARP funds, how they've been investing them in their town, and sort of the stewardship of what they've done with those funds.
Okay. So we have our own at the league, we have our own communications arm when it comes to the American Rescue Plan. Just for a little bit of enrichment, I I assume, most everybody listening knows what ARP is. But could we back up a little bit and just talk about the basics of the American Rescue Plan? Just if someone were to come up to you and a friend of yours is like, I I I've heard about ARP. I have no idea what it is. What is it?
ARP stands for the American Rescue Plan or also called the American Rescue Plan Act. Mhmm. ARPA. Sometimes it's called. Yeah. So it came down as a result of COVID and was put into place in 2021. It came through Congress and basically distributed billions of dollars across the country to be invested in local municipalities, states, counties. And so for us here, what we're looking at is towns were each given an allotment of funds as a result of this that they were then told to invest in their town in one way or another. One of the most basic ways it can be used is simply to refund some of the revenue that they may have lost due to the pandemic. Okay. But they have a pretty wide,
opening for how they want to use may want to use these funds. Okay. So so the bottom line is kind of, you know, we went through a a a a disastrous time that could have even been worse. And, the federal government positioned to put out some resources so the communities that have been hit hard, in so many different ways can kind of get back on their feet and position for the future because this is not just about, you know, getting over COVID. It's also, you know, preparing ourselves for the future and all kinds of change going on right now that we need to kind of, you know, get our footing for. But, you know, this is also just a in general, you could say it's always a good time to to to work on economic development and things that could put put your town into the strategy groove of, you know, attracting employers or or, you know, putting in the infrastructure that you need to to really support the growth coming to you. Or if you're losing population, maybe think of ways to stabilize from that. So as you're saying, yeah, a wide variety of ways to use this funding that congress has provided. And, as far as us as a league goes, why do what you know, obviously, we care. We care about the outcomes of cities and towns, but why are we active when it comes to ARP?
Part of this is when it came down is that there wasn't necessarily a really set plan for how towns were supposed to spend it. They also have to each year and for some cities quarterly report how they're using these funds and submit that to the treasury. So there's a lot of minutia that needs to go into knowing how to do that properly and to stay in compliance. So that's part of what we've been doing is just working with towns, making sure that they know all the steps that they need to take because they also have to start off by putting together a grant project ordinance in their town in order to use these funds correctly. And then knowing just the different ways that they can use it properly because there are some exceptions that towns may not be able to use it in a certain way. Mhmm. And and then, like I said, with reporting, we are right now in the middle of the reporting season for towns. And even though they've been doing this now for several years, there's still a lot of towns that may have new people who have come in and may not have done this previously. So that's a big part of what the league has been doing to support towns is to walk with them through that, to be a resource that has done this a number of times and be able to help those that it might be their first time doing this. And so that's a big way that we've been doing it. Mhmm. And then on top of that, the league also received a part of these funds as well. And so when these funds first came down, the state also allocated a number to the league, and we've been tasked with using that money to then support these towns in other ways. So part of it is in supporting them in sort of those daily steps with compliance. But, also, we have put together a number of different services that we are also offering now, And those range from help with grant writing and legal services that we have some vendors that we bring in to support towns with those items. We also have, cybersecurity where we can come in and do an assessment and make sure that things all look good Mhmm. With your computers and software. And then one of our biggest ones is the accounting, which we, call our municipal accounting services. And that both involves potential software conversion if a town is working on old software that might need some updating and as well as now doing some mentorship. And then finally is my side of things in the communications, which is being able to come in with towns. I talk with them, help them to kinda pull out what their good story is, and, and help them to share that as well. Yeah. And I'm sure you're hearing a lot of that too when it comes to, you know, in in inventive ways that talent can spend money,
immediate needs. I mean, the whole variety of things and stories that can come up. And, it's it's I'm I'm glad you mentioned the the the different service lines that we offer, kind of, you know, growing out of ARP. So you you've been traveling, as as far as I know, to to different towns and and kind of working with them, hearing their stories, kind of helping them through the process. What what kind of stuff have you been hearing in terms of towns that have been able to, invest ARP funds? What what are the different ways? Maybe we can start that way. What are some of the different ways that you've seen,
certain towns spend, ARP money? Yeah. And that's been some of what's really fun about this is learning just the different ways that towns are doing it. And another part that's exciting is since these funds came in sort of this lump amount that was not previously involved in the budget, it really gave towns opportunity to invest it in big ways that they might not have been able to do before. So especially as far as infrastructure goes, it has been really helpful with a lot of towns
in updating old water and sewer systems. Yeah. And even though that's one of the ways that might not sound quite as exciting, it's also one of the ways that most immediately impacts the residents on a daily basis Right. Even if they're not thinking about it. But they're gonna very much notice it if suddenly their water and sewer is not working. Right. Yeah. I I remember, I I used to be a, a news reporter in kind of a a semi, like, a rural but growing county. And, there was an initiative to kinda get everybody onto to water and sewer off of septic tanks and things like that. And yeah. When you think of, like, the fun way to spend money, that may not be, like, the most fun amusement park, you know, ride way of spending the money, but it is one of the most important and immediately effective when it comes to payoff and everything like that. So so you've seen some of that, some infrastructure. Any other, you know, kind of standard ways that towns might be using this kind of money?
I'd say on top of that, we've seen a lot who have also been able to invest in the recreation of the town. And some of those things that I think a lot of towns really wanna do, but it can never be that top item in their budget, and they always have to take care of all of the necessities before getting to it. So we've seen some towns like, Wilkesboro out in Wilkes County. They put in, this amazing new playground that is accessible and really just open to bringing other people in and connects to a lot of the other recreation that they're doing in the area. And, we've seen a number of towns like that kind of investing in even greenways or, fixing up some of their city parks to be, a more open space.
You mentioned things like greenways and parks and things like that. That might sound maybe on the outside like a softer expense of some of this money, but those are also things that, you know, larger employers were interested in when, you know, I I I know kind of outside of the league, in the town I live in, I know some of the big employers, have been kind of working to get the message out, about what this community has and potentially, you know, the kind of people who might wanna work for this corporation. They they, you know, they want, they want talented employees and, there's a lot to economic development. But but when it comes to the, yeah, the lifestyle, quality of life stuff, I mean, that's that's the obviously, you can have an impact,
a a draw on people. Yeah. And I think a lot have really been interested in investing in community as well Yeah. And kinda building up those places where people can come together. And also in the downtown areas, I went out to Youngsville a few weeks ago, and one of the things that they did was updated a lot of the sidewalks and, making some bump outs that kinda slow traffic down to make it a much more walkable and safe place for people to come to. Gotcha. So really just opening up that space for people to be able to come down and feel comfortable walking and, and taking the new crossroad walks that they put in and and knowing that you're safe and not having to cross in the middle of the street. Right. Yeah.
Were there any other, you know, surprising ways or or sort of novel ways that you've seen towns spend money or maybe a a kind of a one off interesting kind of thing to you? Or So one town that I just spoke with recently was, Spencer, which is out in Rowan County.
And for them, they realized that a lot of their vehicles were not running properly or just not doing the job as well as it could. Like, they invested in a new garbage truck, which for them makes a big difference because now they were able to get one that has an arm that can go around with one person Right. And empty the trash where before they've had three people having to man that truck every day. Mhmm. So now they've freed up two people that they can utilize for other jobs rather than having to have three people confined to that all day. Mhmm. And, and so that's been kind of one of the interesting ways that people have been spending these funds.
So, we mentioned some of the services earlier, and, we just kinda went down kind of a bulleted list of what we do offer. How are the services that we're offering helping towns to achieve achieve their goals when it comes to the American Rescue Plan and, you know, where we all hope to see everybody be? So I think part of what else this is helping with is being able to extend the funds beyond
just the amount the town's received. So one of our, service lines is grant writing, and we have a team that is coming in to work with towns on putting together grant proposals, finding grants that they might be able to apply for. And we've seen towns already through this being able to submit to those grants and receive more funds that they're now able to invest
in much bigger ways than maybe the small amounts that they just received. Oh, so like, like, where a grant might require a match or something and this enables a town that might not otherwise have the, you know, the the the change to to put up, suddenly they do. And they can leverage the the the money they have to to go even further. Exactly.
And and we've seen towns too that are now suddenly being able to bring in millions of dollars that's been out there for them that, yes, they may not have been able to match before or may not have even known about the grants Sure. Or had the resources to
file for them. That's true. Yeah. It's it's sort of like a a when you do have, say, potential, you know, match, match capability, then, yeah, you kinda have a new universe of things to look at and opportunities that might have just kind of not been on the radar because essentially, they couldn't be. And so this yeah. It's it's a really neat kind of ripple effect from from this.
Mhmm. And similarly with, the legal service line that we have, it's helping towns perhaps put together an RFP or things like that that they might be going out for a bid on a project that they're funding from the ARP dollars, but they haven't known exactly how to cross all the t's and dot all the i's to get that done. So then the legal team is able to work with them on that to make sure that they have everything needed and in order in order to get that and stay in compliance with what is required, for the ARP funds.
How else? What other advantages can, can Towne see as when it comes to our service offerings as it relates to ARP? I think one of the
biggest one has been the financial accounting side of things. And this is our municipal accounting services. We have partnered with, Black Mountain Software to help towns to make an actual conversion to this new software. We have had some towns that were working off of Excel spreadsheets for balancing their budget and now are being able to have access to a much more robust system Gotcha. That is specifically geared towards their needs. And we have representatives from the league who walk alongside these people throughout the whole transition, and it's a months long transition Sure. For them to be able to transfer everything over and learn the whole program. And we will be continuing to do that through the end of the cycle, which ends in 2026 Uh-huh. For spending the funds. But we have seen some huge improvements for towns who have been able to take advantage of this, being able to update this software that may have been out of date and, now have a much more robust system that not only is helpful for them in what they're doing, but is also much safer and, less likely to deal with any sort of outside interference.
Okay. Okay. So so it, you know, it may be a a little bit of a lift to kind of, you know, get to operability with the new software and making sure everything's, you know, streamlined and smooth and everybody knows how to use it. But once you get there, this you know, you you can there's a lot of relief when it comes to security and just knowing you've got everything tracked as it should be because with, you know I I I don't know the specific details on this, but I I do know that, you know, there's a lot of, you know, compliance and things like that that, that comes with the accepting these funds and and using it. And Yes. So we have representatives
in the field all across the state who are every single day meeting with towns to work with them on all of those sorts of things and making sure that they know the exact process that need they need to follow in order to not only spend these funds, but report everything properly and have everything that they need. What's been nice is that the treasury opened things up for towns to be able to put most everything under one bucket if they're a town that received $10,000,000 or less, and and they're able to put that towards revenue replacement and their salaries and benefits and really simplify things. And that's something that we've been stressing with towns a lot that it's a really good opportunity to simplify the process as much as possible. And we're coming up on the deadline for that very quickly now. Okay. So the first deadline that people, should be aware of is 12/31/2024 is the obligation deadline. And that means that you have to have the money spoken for in some form of contract. It needs to be passed in an ordinance through your town management, or something along those lines to make sure that it is spoken for properly. It's gotta be written down for something. Exactly. And then they'll have until 2026 to actually spend those funds if they haven't already done so. Okay. But part of why we are recommending this revenue replacement way is that it both obligates and expends your funds all at one time. You are simply saying that they are going towards this lost revenue, and you have obviously a few things that you have to go through in order to make sure that that is all properly done and recorded. Sure. But it is the simplest way to be able to take care of this money without worrying about not being able to obligate it in time or not being able to spend it at time.
So that that's a that that that's an important point coming up, the the deadline, end of the year. What else is new? Is there anything else coming up? Deadlines, that things were rolling out, new things that are that are happening with ARP, next steps. Where where are we? And because, you know, we're a few years deep into it at this point. It doesn't feel like it. I mean, it's really flown by, since 2020. But yeah. What what's what's happening right now? What's new?
Those are the biggest things that we really have coming up on the horizon. In addition to that, the treasury is constantly changing little things here and there that people definitely have to keep up on. Mhmm. They've just recently put out some new information on changing the definition of an obligation. This will mostly apply to cities and counties that receive more than 10,000,000. So a lot of the towns that we're working with, this isn't something that applies to them as much. Gotcha. But it is something that everyone needs to be paying attention to to see that there are sometimes changes, and it might not always be exactly as it was last year. Mhmm. And and as I mentioned before, a lot of times we have new people coming into towns and who have not been processing these reports in the past. And so that is just continuing to be a part of it is having to make sure that we are there to help people get up to speed on things and, staying staying up in all these changes ourselves. But as far as changes for us, as a league, we're really looking towards, pushing more into these service lines. It's been really great seeing the, interactions that we've had already with towns and being able to connect them with the resources that they need. And we're really excited about being able to extend these beyond just kinda how we first started here and really moving into especially on the accounting side, really being able to, continue to offer towns that support.
So when it comes to the the towns we're helping, is it a a is it, you know, mostly small towns? Is it larger cities? Is it just a few dozen or hundreds? Or, you know, like, what what does it look like in terms of, our work on the ground?
It is a vast network of towns. Mhmm. I believe there's over 500 towns across the state. Yeah. We are mostly working with towns with under 5,000 residents. And there's a lot of them. Mhmm. Yes. And there's quite a few of them. And so those are the towns that are gonna also be in that 10,000,000 and under category that hopefully will have a much simpler process. So we're trying to be there to support them because these are a lot of towns that might have only one or two employees for the town. Sometimes they're even part time or wearing multiple hats as Sure. Both the clerk and the finance officer and possibly the manager. Right. And we so we know that they don't have the time to spend having to learn all of these new things that come up all the time. And that's exactly what we want to be as a resource is for us as one unit to be able to know these things and be able to support them and make sure that they can stay up to date. That's,
we were, you know, we were pinpointed for that as as far as, because that's in the legislation. Right? That that the league is is sort of, you know, we're doing what we do. And the the legislation notices that or or or names us as the organization that works with municipalities across the state, variety of reasons, variety of causes, purposes. We're positioned and connected to help these cities and towns when it comes to something that that, again, is still new. Like, ARP is still a a new thing even though if you work in the world of government, like, yeah, you've been hearing it for years. But it's still a new thing. And, you know, we we we're still looking at, you know, maybe the the the positive effects and maybe waiting to see effects down the road of certain things. But it it's a really, really cool time, especially with the state that's growing the way that North Carolina is to, to to be able to do this together. I mean, it's, you know, this wasn't just a bill that got passed and individual towns got money and they're on their own to do it. I mean, this is a very kind of coordinated effort, and, it's it's really neat to see. It'll all play out.
Yeah. I think that's one thing that's been really exciting about it is since it wasn't just a one off of a town receiving a grant. This happened statewide and even countrywide. Mhmm. But to really be able to dig in with towns and get the opportunity to work with so many different ones who are using this money in different ways Mhmm. And and just really looking to steward the money well for what works with their town and what their needs are at the time. I think that that's what's been really exciting about it is is seeing towns really come together and work across, you know,
city lines Mhmm. As well to hear how others are doing it and to learn from them as well. Yeah. And that that creates a narrative. It's not just a a bunch of disparate, you know, things happening. There's there's a there's a story to this, and it's it's really nice to follow. And, and, you know, you you've been very helpful and informative today in kinda, you know, kinda bringing us up to where we need to be on ARP. How do people learn more? I mean, do do we have literature out there that can help people, you know, kinda through Google, you know, kinda find us and and learn more about ARP? Or, you know, how do people get up with us in this?
One of the best resources will be our website, which is arp.nclm.org. Mhmm. And, obviously, that is specifically with information related to ARP. We are currently working on a number of stories to be able to share, and those come out in, our ARP newsletters. Mhmm. And, you know, if anyone is interested in receiving those, they can also reach out to us directly at arp@nclm.org. We'd be happy to make sure that you're receiving those. And we also are putting, out our additions of Southern City that come out quarterly, and we usually always have an ARP section in there to keep up to date on not only what is happening in the ARP world, but also to share some of these stories of how towns are utilizing those funds.
Is there anything I didn't ask about that you think is important or something that our listeners ought to know about or maybe something that gets missed? Anything.
I think just the final bit of encouragement that I would love to get give towns, especially since this is my role in it, is to be active in sharing your stories. And the league is here to walk with you through that and to give you resources to help if you want it. But I think that these stories are so important, not only for the residents of the towns to know how their leaders are making these decisions and deciding where to spend it, but also for the leadership in Washington or the state legislator and letting them know how important these funds have been to towns Yeah. And giving them that, extra incentive to continue to look for ways like this to support towns. Yeah. Storytelling,
so important. I I realize I'm a little self interested in saying that because I work in the league's communications office. But, but yeah. Exactly. Showing the impact that someone's help had is not a discouraging thing. It's it's a very good thing. And when it comes to just general members of the public who maybe don't follow government at at any level, some people, you know, like, they tune out, you know, local government, state government, federal government. Maybe it's all one smeared thing to them. But kind of understanding, you know, it's the the best efforts to to to tell a story when it comes to this may help people to understand where things come from, how things, you know, come to be, especially if it's a nice thing that you get out of it. And it's it's part of the recovery story, you know, basically I mean, for towns that were really hard hit, and it's it's yeah. Just nothing more important. Well, okay. I won't say nothing more important, but it's pretty important to tell your story. Show photos of it. You know? Show just just make it relatable so people get it. And so the people at the the state and federal levels understand that you did something really good with the help that they gave.
Exactly. And the fact that these are funds that are coming separate from taxpayer dollars. So these are things that you can invest in in different ways than maybe you would otherwise. Right. I think that that is what has opened up so many interesting ways that towns have been able to do it and and as well as ways that really invest in the town and prepare it for the future.
Well, Stephanie, I appreciate this. This has been great. You know, I I think as far as takeaways go, you know, we've we've talked about the basics. We've talked about the importance of of telling your story. We've talked about the the service lines that we offer to kinda help towns, get through. You know, it's it's a positive thing, but maybe a challenge otherwise. And, and we're all kind of headed in the right direction. And since this is a coordinated thing, again, we have a narrative now about how, you know, this is one big thing, and this is what we're doing with it together. And, it's it's a really neat thing to see. So, Stephanie, I'm sure we're gonna talk to you again more as this develops and new things happen, and and we get some more stories. Again, you're hearing stories from our member cities and towns about what they've been doing with their ARP money. And, you know, we just talked about the importance of storytelling. We wanna tell those stories too. So I I'm sure we're gonna do that again at some point coming up. And, but for now yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it. So it's arp.nclm.org.
Yes. And thank you, Ben. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about it.
Thanks for listening. Glad you could stick around with us as we keep up with, again, one of the most significant pieces of federal legislation in history that included direct allocations to cities and towns to get better from the pandemic and succeed. Again, a r p.nclm.0rg. Arp.nclm.0rg. That'll take you right to our municipal accounting services section of the website where you can learn more, see what we offer in that regard, get the history, get questions answered, know what's ahead. However it relates to ARP in the cities and towns of North Carolina, we've got you covered. On that and so much more in the space of municipalities, you can find out more at nclm.0rg. We love working with our cities and towns. Please reach out to me if yours is doing something interesting or novel, or or if you're addressing a new kind of challenge or you know, there's a lot out there that can make for a great podcast episode. Our municipalities have no shortage of ideas and possibilities and stories, whether it's serious, whether it's fun. Please let me know. We're all about storytelling and idea sharing. My name is Ben Brown. I work with the communications department here at the North Carolina League of Municipalities in our Raleigh office. And you can reach me directly by emailing bbrown@nclm.org. Again, my name is Ben Brown, and my email address is bbrown@nclm.org. Thank you, and you can find all the past episodes of Municipal Equation on your preferred podcast app. We've got a ton in the archive going back years, and we've got a lot lined up for you. So we'll catch you then. Appreciate you listening. From Municipal Equation and the North Carolina League of Municipalities, this is Ben Brown.