Pandemic relief spending by New York local governments

Abstract

COVID-19 federal government funding, especially the State and Local Fiscal Relief Funds (SLFRF) from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), passed in 2021, encouraged communities to invest in infrastructure, resilience and equity. US community development funding has been on a competitive basis the past 40 years, but the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) changed that by providing funds to every local government in the US. A history of austerity since the Great Recession may limit the ability and capacity of local governments to use ARPA funds for transformative change. We surveyed local officials in New York State in late 2021 and early 2022 regarding how they planned to spend their ARPA funds. We model differences between rural and urban governments. Rural governments were more likely to hire expert consultants, develop ARPA specific plans, and participate in regional collaboration. Regression models show these community capacity features also led to more resilience-related investments. The ARPA program wanted local governments to be transformative in addressing equity, and our models find community engagement is key to such transformative change. To move from resilience to transformation requires both community capacity and citizen engagement.