Baltimore city is on a fast-approaching deadline to obligate all $641 million of its federal COVID-19 relief funds by the end of this year — or else it will lose the money.
Around $501 million has been obligated as of Sept. 30, per a new report released Thursday by the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs. That number does not include interagency agreements, according to Chief Recovery Officer Shamiah Kerney. When factoring in interagency agreements, the allocation matches the $619.7 million that Kearney presented at an Oct. 3 city council meeting. Kerney didn’t reply when the Sun asked if more money has since been obligated.
The effort to obligate funds has come a long way since earlier this year, when around half of the funds still hadn’t been obligated. The money was allotted through the American Rescue Plan Act, signed by President Joe Biden in 2021. If the funds are not obligated by the end of this year, the city has to return them to the U.S. Treasury.
A quick look at the city’s ARPA dashboard shows that 100% of the funds have been “committed,” but to meet the Treasury’s definition of “obligated,” the money must be assigned to a project.
While the vast majority of funds is now obligated, only around half — $328 million — has been spent, according to Thursday’s report. That’s an increase of 13.5% since the last quarterly report published in July. The deadline for spending all $641 million comes at the end of 2026.
The largest funding commitment categories are housing ($193 million), city infrastructure ($144.8 million), public spaces and parks ($69.4 million), training and education ($49.3 million), violence prevention ($36 million) and household assistance ($35.5 million), according to the Recovery Office data dashboard.
Although the funding was originally prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and government shutdowns, Baltimore and other cities have used the funds for a variety of purposes not directly related to the pandemic, including a guaranteed income pilot program.
The slow rollout of funds has been similar to other cities and a cause for concern.
“Our commitment is not to leave a dollar on the table,” Kerney told the council earlier this month. “This is a city with entirely too much need to allow any money to go back to the United States Treasury, and we are committed to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
The city obligated $8.3 million in ARPA funding to engage a consulting firm, Guidehouse, Inc., to help manage the ARPA funds.