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City wants ARP spending to be 'transformative'

Hendersonville City Manager John Connet opened the city’s information meeting on American Rescue Plan money with an observation about how unprecedented the program is.

“I’ve been in local government for 35 years and never have I received a gift of this magnitude from the federal government,” he said.
Specifically, the city will receive $4.5 million in ARP money, half already deposited in the city treasury and half next year. The city is using the in-person and Zoom-available meeting plus an online survey to gather input on how residents want the money spent. If the attendance at last week’s public meeting at the City Operations Center is a guide, nonprofit agencies may have the greatest stake and most intense interest in where the council sends the money. Agencies from the Team ECCO Aquarium and Shark Lab downtown — “I have 300 mouths to feed every day,” director BJ Ramer said — to Interfaith Assistance Ministry sent leaders to find out how they can apply for grants.
Think of long-lasting, high impact on vulnerable populations, Connet said.
“We want to be transformative, we want to be catalytic and we want to impact the greatest number of people,” he said. "We want to focus on the disadvantaged and the greatest number of folks in those categories.”
Local government bodies are allowed to spend ARP money to contain Covid-19 and address other public needs, invest in water and sewer infrastructure, appropriate premium pay for essential workers, replace revenue lost because of the pandemic and address negative economic impacts that people or businesses have had. Examples of the last category, the city says, include housing assistance, food assistance, home repair and weatherization and job training. Ineligible categories include contributing money to rainy day funds or pension funds, debt service, general infrastructure spending and paying legal settlements or judgments.
The council has already signaled its desire to give premium pay to essential employees and to identify and replace lead pipes in the city water system, Connet said. Identifying homes or businesses served by failing septic tanks is another potential use of the money.
“We can spend this money to extend sewer lines into those areas to move people from a private septic tank system into public sewer,” Connet said.
Whether the money can be spent on parks or for development of the Ecusta Trail is a little less certain.
“Originally there was some question whether it can be used for recreational activity,” Connet said. “In the final rule we have a little bit more leeway.”

The next step in the process takes place next month when the City Council uses public input and its own priorities to set goals and objectives. In the next two months, the city will refine the applications nonprofit agencies can use to apply for ARP money. In May the council is expected to set funding priorities. All ARP money must be appropriated by December 2024 and spent by December 2026.

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The survey on how you think the city should spend $4.5 million in American Rescue Plan money is open through Feb. 11. Find it at Hvlnc.gov/ARP.