DES MOINES, Iowa — Local leaders now know how they want to spend what's left of $95 million from the American Rescue Plan.
ARPA is money doled out by the Feds to help cities hit hard financially by the pandemic. The Des Moines City Council met Monday to decide the future of these funds, which must be obligated by the end of 2024.
"We have been looking long and hard for ways to get direct funding to our city. And so i talked to administrations with our senators, with our representatives in Washington, to see if we can achieve that," said Mayor Frank Cownie.
Local 5 spoke with City Manager Scott Sanders who says when making the decision, the city used an online survey to see how residents want the money spent.
Sanders says the city received nearly 1,000 responses.
"As you heard, we voted 7-0 to support the direction that we have finally come upon after a number of months of, of debate in public input," Cownie said.
The city of Des Moines selected 20 different allocations for the ARPA spending, including affordable housing, childcare, food assistance, infrastructure and community programs.
Cownie says the council is still trying to figure out who to give the money to, and how much those organizations should get.
"Hopefully, you know, by the end of the year, at least, we're going to have, you know, those details pretty much nailed down," Cownie said.
He adds that Des Moines is ahead of the game compared to other cities.
"Some of them are waiting to the end of that [20]24 to, you know, kind of figure it out. But you know, we thought, we need to be very clear, we need to let our citizens know we want their input," Cownie said. "We care what they have to say we care what their priorities are. And then let's put it in. And let's balance it out and see how we're going to do it. And i think our staff has done a fabulous job and working through that, and our council has."
The money is now earmarked, but the specifics on the spending still needs to be worked out — this includes money for affordable housing as well as childcare and preschool programs.