Evanston City Council members will face some tough choices Monday as they try to decide how to spend roughly the last 15% of the city’s nearly $43.2 million in pandemic-related federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
With a little over $6 million left to allocate, they’ve got over $8 million in pending requests, plus over $2 million in proposals that were once approved, have been withdrawn for various reasons but may be revived, and a request for more affordable housing funds that doesn’t have a price tag on it yet.
Here’s a summary of the proposals and what’s been spent so far.
Potential ARPA projects Estimated budget Former proposal Committed so far in category Revenue replacement $12,175,701 Meridian barricades for outdoor events $613.000 Safety improvements to crosswalks $300,000 Negative economic impacts $11,458,100 “Evanston Thrives” business district improvements $3,000,000 Whole & Free Foods manufacturing facility TBD $550,000 Rebuilding Exchange workforce training facility TBD $1,200,000 Small business assistance program $500,000 ASPIRE workforce development program $200,000 HODC 44-unit affordable housing, Church at Darrow $1,500,000 Funding additional new affordable housing units TBD Public health $3,152,500 Addressing health inequities in lower-income neighborhoods $1,500,000 Youth violence reduction program TBD $552,000 Additional capital funding for mental health living room 350,000 Additional funding for social services and mental health services $200,000 Infrastructure $5,000,000 Premium pay $994,060 Participatory budgeting $3,000,000 Administrative and other $1,000,000 Totals $8,163,000 $2,302,000 $36,780,361 Unallocated funds available $6,393,323 Excess of proposals over available funds $1,769,677 $2,302,000
More detail on the specific proposals is included in the packet for Monday night’s City Council meeting.