ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today announced the submission of the County’s quarterly American Rescue Plan (ARP) Project and Expenditure Report to the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury). Additionally, County Executive Ball announced that data collected from the County’s Community Survey is available on the ARP website.
Howard County learned this past March that it would receive a total allocation of $63.3 million in federal ARP funding. The first half ($31.6 million) of the County’s federal ARP funding was received last June, with the second half expected to be received later this summer.
This influx of American Rescue Plan funding will be vital for Howard County’s continued recovery from the pandemic. Over the past six months, we have engaged our community and gathered important feedback on how to best utilize our federal funding to have the greatest impact and help Howard County emerge from the pandemic stronger than before. In the latest update, we’re sharing our community survey results, and our next steps to allocating funding.
To date, Howard County has expended over $23.5 million of its initial $31.6 million ARP allocation, focusing its spending on education, health care and front-line workers, housing, public safety and business and industry support.
Supporting County schools, students and educators has been a top priority, with nearly $11 million in County ARP funding expended on HCPSS educators, school bus drivers and for the expansion of school based mental health services to all public schools in Howard County.
Investment in health care workers and programming has been a priority as the County continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly $8 million provided to support Howard County General Hospital, Howard County Health Department and front-line County employees, community-based mental health services and the expansion of COVID-19 testing resources.
Other expenditures include $2 million for foreclosure prevention grants to homeowners, over $1.5 million for the County’s Body Worn Camera program, and over $800,00 in industry support for tourism, small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
The County has undertaken a robust community engagement process to inform its spending of federal ARP funding since the beginning of last September, launching a County-based ARP website upon the release of the County’s initial recovery plan, conducting a community survey, hosting an ARP public hearing and presenting its work to the County Council in November.
Nearly 1,200 residents responded to the County’s ARP Community Survey. Along with other resources, the results of the Community Survey have heavily influenced County decisions related to allocation of ARP funding, as terms like “schools” and “health” were among the most commonly used responses provided by County residents.
Moving forward, ARP funding allocation decisions will continue to be informed by community feedback and the recommendations laid out in the HoCo RISE Collaborative Report, which outlined a path forward for continued response and recovery from the pandemic this past March. Launched in November 2020, the 50-member HoCo RISE Collaborative provided guidance on the County’s public health response, government response, jobs and the economy, education and workforce and family opportunities.
The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, with the intent of providing support to State, local, and Tribal governments in responding to the impact of COVID-19 and containing COVID-19 within their communities, residents, and businesses. On June 21, 2021, the County Council unanimously approved an emergency appropriation accepting the first half ($31.6 million) of the County’s $63.3 million American Rescue Plan allocation.