Local governments had until the end of the year to use millions in federal relief dollars received during the height of the coronavirus pandemic; in Orange County, much of the one-time funding went toward the pandemic response and services intended to support the county’s most vulnerable residents as well as new construction and community needs.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, a $1.9 trillion economic relief plan with aid for citizens, businesses and local governments. The money was intended for, among other things, pandemic response, providing premium pay for essential workers and funding government services.
The federal bill allocated $350 billion to state, local, territorial and tribal governments, with Orange County receiving about $616 million. Among the largest local city earmarks were $128 million to Santa Ana, $106 million to Anaheim and $56 million to Irvine.
Nearly $426 million was spread across multiple county departments including the CEO’s office ($121 million), the public defender’s department ($138 million) and the Health Care Agency ($116 million). About $27.3 million went toward paid sick leave for county employees to comply with COVID-19 precautions and workers’ compensation costs.
The county left no ARPA money on the table, utilizing every dollar sent by the federal government by the December deadline, county spokesperson Molly Nichelson said. But the one-time funding was allocated, she said, in a manner so its future absence will not impact the county’s budgets going forward.
View this document on ScribdAbout $5 million went to emergency housing vouchers, $6.7 million was sent to Illumination Foundation for temporary isolation shelter services, and $40 million went toward building the county’s second Be Well campus in Irvine.
Each of the five county supervisor district offices also received $10 million for discretionary spending. In the past, district offices typically had about $200,000 each year in discretionary funds to distribute, supporting community events or needs on a much smaller scale.
Supervisors used the boon in funding for various initiatives, including homeless services and youth programs, helping finance the county’s first veterans cemetery and creating the county’s Office of Immigrants and Refugee Affairs.
“I was proud to be able to support local nonprofits to help strengthen communities using ARPA funding,” Second District Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said. “This included support for the Homeless Prevention and Stabilization Program, voter education efforts, the crossing guard program in Orange, support for the senior center programming in Tustin, support for domestic violence prevention and assistance, and helping repair the fountain in the Orange Circle.”
More than 40 community groups, agencies and programs received funding in the district.
The largest allocation in the Third District, represented by Supervisor Don Wagner, was $1.7 million to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for fentanyl abatement. Among his spending, Wagner also allocated $20,000 to the Orange County Fire Authority, $1 million to the Orange County Cemetery District and $60,000 to school districts. More than 20 different entities received funding.
In the Fourth District, some 30 local groups, programs and cities received a share of the available funding. Supervisor Doug Chaffee directed $1 million to Fullerton for a social worker program in the city’s police department and another $1 million to the Friendly Center, a nonprofit that provides services to low-income families. Food and health programs, housing and homeless services, a PTA thift shop, all received assistance.
Several dozen allocations in smaller amounts were distributed in the Fifth District, where the largest single allocation was $1.5 million to Charitable Ventures of Orange County. Also from the district’s discretionary funds, $100,000 went to the county’s Office of Aging, $200,000 to Orange Coast College and $300,000 to local school districts, among the other spending that saw as little as $4,300 for a pet adoption event.
Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley said previously the discretionary funds allowed each board office to invest “where there are gaps in funding to support community needs.” Chaffee once said the dictionary funds allow him to be “innovative” and give back to his district’s communities.
In the First District, allocations were made to a little more than a dozen entities. Most were in larger amounts, but there were smaller allocations for a neighborhood watch program, Alzheimer’s Orange County and local cities.
It is unclear what will happen with First District discretionary funding that was directed to two community groups – about $9.3 million between the federal ARPA funding and county money – to provide meals to older adults and people with disabilities in the district. Federal and county prosecutors have said much of the funding was instead embezzled and not used as intended.
Former First District Supervisor Andrew Do pleaded guilty in October to a federal bribery charge related to the distribution of the funds, of which authorities are estimating about $1.4 million was spent on the meals, according to the plea agreement. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has said authorities are committed to recovering and returning misused funds to the federal government.
In response, the Board of Supervisors and county officials scrambled to improve oversight of county contracts and have called for extensive audits.
“The decentralization of funding controls and the unilateral spending by board offices was a mistake,” Sarmiento said. “I believe we are unlikely to see a return to large discretionary funds – rather a return to offices using district funds to support nonprofits and community organizations through their event budgets.”
City spending
Anaheim over two years during the pandemic lost a projected $422 million in revenue that was later partly supplanted by the $106 million in recovery funds from the federal government. The city’s finances struggled immensely during that time, with theme parks and hotels bringing in far less revenue than in normal times. Anaheim also had to issue bonds to shore up its budget, which it’s still paying off.
Of the $106 million from the federal stimulus bill, $72 million went to assisting residents and businesses. Anaheim spent $30 million of that money providing rental assistance when an eviction moratorium was in place, and another $20 million housing homeless people in a motel and quarantining them in camper trailers. Anaheim also gave grants to struggling restaurants and nonprofits.
Anaheim spent all its recovery funds from the federal government from March 2021 to December 2021.
In Santa Ana, city leaders used the funds for homelessness resources, food distribution and several COVID-19 response measures.
View this document on ScribdThe city also used its ARPA allocation to make several infrastructure improvements including spending nearly $26 million on public library upgrades, about $8.8 million to renovate Memorial Park and its aquatics facility, and about $5.2 million on public restroom improvements.
The Santa Ana City Council at its Dec. 3 meeting approved using the remainder of ARPA funds: $1.4 million for park lighting projects and about $1.8 million for IT upgrades.
Local municipalities are responsible for kicking back to the federal government any ARPA funds that were unused or not budgeted for a specific use by Dec. 31.
Staff reporter Michael Slaten contributed to this report.
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