There’s frustration building in Springfield, Massachusetts over delays in distributing COVID recovery money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Last April, Mary Crapps went to a meeting at the Raymond Jordan Senior Center where Mayor Domenic Sarno urged those in attendance to apply for a $1,400 one-time payment the city was making available to seniors and low-income households from its $123 million pot of federal ARPA funds.
She sent in an application along with paperwork to verify her residency in Springfield and her income. In May, Crapps said she received an email informing her that her application was being processed.
Then, she heard nothing until one day in late August a letter arrived from the city that said she would need to resubmit her residency and income documentation and provide some additional information.
“It’s a lot to go through for just $1,400,” Crapps said. “There is a lot of frustration.”
She is by no means alone. According to the city, almost 8,500 applications from seniors and households have been submitted for the APRA grants. Just under 300 awards have been approved.
On the city’s website there is no longer a phone number or email address for the city department that was set up in 2021 to administer the city’s APRA funds. Instead, a message on the website reads “Due to the high number of applications we are no longer able to provide status updates.”
The city’s Chief Administration and Finance Officer T.J. Plante said the city has been unable to hire more people to process the backlog of applications which total more than 9,000 when other ARPA funded programs are included. He said he shares the public’s frustration.
“Be patient, we’re working on it,” Plante said adding “It’s been a challenge and we’re doing the best we can.”
City Councilor Justin Hurst, who along with City Councilor Trayce Whitfield held a news conference in front of City Hall last week to highlight the delays, said the city should get outside help to process the applications.
“Unless they’re going to hire more staff, they need to hire somebody that is independent and can actually handle the volume of applications they received,” Hurst said.
But Plante said it would take months to hire a private company to process applications because the city would have to solicit bids for the job.
At the very least, said City Council President Jesse Lederman, City Hall should stand up a call center to answer the public’s questions about the APRA programs.
“The community is understanding of the vast nature of the program, but the community can not be blamed for being frustrated when their questions are not being answered,” Lederman said.
The city has budgeted $75 million of its APRA funds. Much of the money has been set aside for new programs and initiatives including $15 million to help restore and reuse historic downtown buildings, $12 million for a neighborhood economic recovery fund, $10 million to assist nonprofits, and $4 million to help small businesses.
But as of September 7th, just under $28 million has actually been spent. Of that total, $12 million was used to fill a revenue gap in last year’s city budget and $6 million went to merit pay for city employees who were required to work during the 2020 COVID shutdowns.
Whitfield said the city’s APRA money is not getting to people who most need it.
“ $123 million of ARPA funds came to the city of Springfield because of the suffering of the most disproportionately impacted individuals, which are our seniors, our low-income families, our Black and Latino families, yet in many instances these are the last individuals to receive any funding or any resources from this pot of money,” Whitfield said.
As for the remaining $48 million in uncommitted APRA funds, Plante said a sizable portion is going to be used for “major projects throughout the city.” He said details would be announced in few weeks.