Dear Houstonians,
The coronavirus pandemic caused personal and fiscal hardships for many of us. Fortunately, the City of Houston will avoid a massive budget shortfall thanks to more than $600 million in State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
But for the dollars being made available by Congress and the President, there would have been major budgetary cuts and layoffs. Without this needed influx of federal funds, the city would have had to close a $201 million budget gap in fiscal year 2021-2022.
The ARPA funds are helping protect the salaries of our first responders, including police, EMS, health, and solid waste workers who continued to work every day and are critical to our struggle with COVID-19. And yes, finally, we were able to give our firefighters an 18 percent raise over the next three years.
The overall budget for this fiscal year will represent a five percent increase over last year. Most of the federal funds will go to replace revenues lost due to COVID-19 and associated drops in sales tax collection in the General Fund, but we expect to have a small amount left over for some priority projects outlined on this website.
Unfortunately, the pandemic still has not run its course. We'll continue to be mindful next year, and the year after next, because we will still be impacted by the coronavirus and there will still be impacts on our tax revenue. The Biden Administration recognizes this as well, so the Fiscal Recovery Funds will be distributed in two tranches. The first tranche of $303.8 million was received in May. The second tranche of $303.8 million will be delivered in May of 2022.
This site will help provide transparency on how, together with City Council, the City of Houston looks to recover. With your help, we will come back from the coronavirus pandemic stronger than ever.
ARPA FUNDING
- Signed on March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion measure designed to address the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses.
- The American Rescue Plan will deliver $350 billion for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments to respond to the COVID-19 emergency and replace lost revenue for governments.
- Congress has allocated Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to tens of thousands of eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments, including $45.6 billion for cities.
- The Act states that funding can be used to:
- Respond to public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its negative economic impacts,
- Provide premium pay to workers performing essential work during COVID-19 public health emergency,
- For the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to COVID-19 public health emergency,
- To make necessary investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.
- Additional funding for the Houston Airport System, Emergency Rental Relief, stimulus checks, and tax credits are also part of the ARPA.
Houston Uses
- The City of Houston will receive $607,769,139 in Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (LFRF) funds across two years. Half of this funding ($303,884,569.50) was received on May 20, 2021, and the remaining half ($303,884,569.50) will be available in May of 2022.
- Like most state and local governments across the nation, the City of Houston faces record revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic; this lost revenue would have funded critical services for many Houstonians. On June 2, 2021, Houston City Council approved $198.624 million of LFRF from the ARPA Funds for the provision of government services due to revenue losses during COVID-19 public health emergency, to maintain and sustain critical services in the FY2022 Budget. View a department breakdown of government services funded (.pdf)
- Additional priority projects that address homelessness, behavioral health, and solid waste are being considered.
- SURVEY: Help Houston prioritize ARPA dollars by sharing your opinions and comments in our ARPA survey. What programs under policing, solid waste and housing do you believe the City of Houston should allocate ARPA funds? Take the survey by clicking here. ... Encuesta en Español
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