Must ‘obligate’ pandemic money by Dec. 31
With a Dec. 31 deadline to “obligate” funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill enacted by President Joe Biden in 2021, Putnam and Dutchess counties are joining other municipalities in a mad scramble to avoid losing some of the millions they’ve received.
Putnam received $19 million and Dutchess $57 million from the $350 billion appropriated for state and local governments. In addition to being obligated — meaning “contracts, sub-awards and similar transactions that require payment,” according to the federal government — ARPA money must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.
On Aug. 12, the Dutchess Legislature approved a resolution to reallocate to the 2024 budget $10.7 million in unspent ARPA funds that had been designated for parks, a Poughkeepsie youth center, sheriff’s vehicles and other projects that will instead be paid for using reserves.
Those funds, along with $9.3 million originally destined to replace reserves used for Dutchess’ Housing Trust Fund and $5.7 million that had yet to be allocated, will instead be used by Dutchess Community College and for the county’s share of a preschool special education program.
In recent months, Putnam legislators have voted on a flurry of requests to reallocate ARPA funding, including $370,000 Philipstown had planned to use to buy water for the Garrison Landing Water District. Water purchases were deemed ineligible, so the money will instead be used on a public works project in the town.
On Monday, the Putnam Legislature’s Rules and Audit committees approved redirecting to the county clerk’s office $31,000 from $300,000 in ARPA money for highway infrastructure studies.
Michael Bartolotti, the county clerk, said he will use the funding to purchase laptops, printers, barcode scanners and other equipment from the state Department of Motor Vehicles so that staff from the DMV office in Brewster can hold regular mobile office hours in Philipstown and other parts of the county.
Being able to process DMV transactions at sites outside of Brewster has been “definitely a vision and has become a priority of mine,” said Bartolotti. He named the Friendship Center in Cold Spring, the William Koehler Memorial Senior Center in Mahopac, town offices and nursing homes as potential locations.
“It’s a really good opportunity for our DMV to extend its footprint throughout the community and get to citizens instead of always having citizens come over to us,” he said.
Less certain is the fate of Sheriff Kevin McConville’s request to reallocate half of the $2 million in ARPA money the Legislature approved in 2022 for infrastructure projects to improve school security. In a letter to County Executive Kevin Byrne, McConville said the security projects will not meet ARPA’s deadlines “because of delayed responses from vendors and manufacturers.”
The Rules Committee voted Monday to table a resolution shifting $1 million of the funding to construct a new building at Camp Herrlich, which a nonprofit operates on county-owned property in Patterson.
The ARPA funding would be used to replace a rundown building with a dining room and kitchen that caters to Camp Herrlich’s summer program and before- and after-school programs for students in the Carmel school district.
Legislator Ginny Nacerino, who represents Patterson, said that although she has supported Camp Herrlich, she was “taken aback” when the request appeared on the Rules Committee’s agenda and “was never brought into the fold and knew nothing about what was being considered.”
Nacerino, before asking to table a vote on the request, said she had “many questions” about the project, including how it relates to school safety, a dearth of details and whether the money will be spent before the federal government’s deadline.
“I would think a sitting legislator who represents the Town of Patterson would have some knowledge about this before it hit the agenda,” she said.
