Pittsfield Council Sees Last ARPA Update
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It has been five years since Pittsfield received more than $40 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to offset the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, with Linda Tyer as mayor, Pittsfield accepted $40,602,779 in ARPA awards to be used by the end of 2026. Now, five years later, the city is looking back on everything those once-in-a-lifetime monies supported.
Through June 30, $40,357,427 of those funds have been expended. Eighty-five projects were allocated funds, and only the Old Town Hall HVAC installation, soon to be complete, and administrative expenses remain.
Special Projects Manager Gina Armstrong gave her last ARPA update to the City Council last week.
"For me, this is the labor of love," she said.
"It's been so exciting to see where we are after planning, having community engagement, community input, having our advisory council and our ARPA team just putting it all together, and now we have all these outcomes to show for the incredible investments we've been able to make."
Expenses will be completed by the end of this month, and a final report is due to the U.S. Treasury in October. Pittsfield anticipates returning about $42,000 in unspent administrative funds because ARPA is wrapping up sooner than the deadline.
Funds were spent in five categories: $4.7 million for public health, $25.1 million for negative economic impacts, $5.9 million for infrastructure, $3.5 million for revenue replacement, and about $1 million for administration.
Mayor Peter Marchetti normally sits in the background as Armstrong gives the ARPA report, but with this being the last one, he highlighted the significance of the funding infusion and the staff members' work to allocate it.
"It's not every day that the city of Pittsfield gets $40,602,780 from the federal government to work on some stuff," he said.
Pittsfield did not use all of the eligible categories, as it chose not to provide premium pay for eligible workers performing essential work, and did not claim the entire $10 million available under the replacement of lost public sector revenue.
Armstrong, retired co-manager of ARPA funds Deanna Ruffer, and the city's Director of Administrative Services and Public Information Officer Catherine Van Bramer worked together to compile an ARPA impact report, which was released that day.
The 32-page document outlines the process and different areas of funding allocations.
"Some of the impacts of the pandemic are still being felt by residents and the community. Others changed forever how we live, work and play. It is difficult to say how city residents and businesses as well as the community at large would have been impacted if federal funding hadn’t been rapidly approved and disbursed," it reads.
"However, the benefits of the funding are clear and have been documented. Each city department and non-profit organization who helped deploy this funding are to be commended for their rapid and compassionate response to our community at a time of significant need. The following sections of this report provide an overview of the projects funded, organized around each of the above four areas of community benefit realized from the ARPA funding."
Armstrong thinks Pittsfield did an amazing job in planning and organizing to get the funds disbursed early on. In 2021, the city expended over $73,000 to control the pandemic with testing, screening, vaccines, and outreach. Also that year, Pittsfield worked on a request for proposals for community partners and nonprofit organizations, and the invitation to apply for funding was open in early 2022.
By the end of 2024, Armstrong said many funded organizations were already offering increased services to residents. The most expenditures were made between 2023 and 2025. Sixty-two percent of the $40.6 million was spent on negative economic impacts, 15 percent was spent on infrastructure, and 12 percent was spent on public health.
Ninety-seven percent of those funds flowed directly into the Pittsfield community of businesses, non-profits, and residents, the impact report states, helping 130 small businesses, investing $9 million in community non-profits and $9.5 million in housing, and leveraging $13.8 million in capital investments.
With ARPA funds, Pittsfield was able to address a "very significant" need for childcare by supporting organizations such as Child Care of the Berkshires, the Berkshire Family YMCA, 18 Degrees, and Berkshire County Head Start; they were able to add spots for families who cannot afford childcare.
The arts and culture sector was hit "extremely hard," Armstrong said, with some businesses experiencing a 50 percent decline in revenue, and ARPA was able to assist with a marketing campaign and assistance to small businesses.
"With investments to approximately 80 projects, there was a very broad scope of initiatives to benefit all city residents in some way, one way or another, as well as our visitors and our businesses," she said.
"ARPA has had significant outcomes and helped improve the quality of life through crucial funding and support for various programs. As the mayor pointed out, this was a big team, big team effort, and it was really extraordinary. It was extraordinary work."
The ARPA impact report and other information can be found on the city website.
Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, who has paid much attention to the funds, praised the work done but had a couple of criticisms. He felt the report was unnecessary and similar to a paid advertisement for the organizations, and didn't like that the City Council is not listed in the special thanks section.
"We left out one group or 11 people. We're a partnership. It's the City Council. Other communities, frankly, did a little more than we did. They went to the city council and had votes. And I had said all through my five years, the City Council should have been more involved. We weren't, but we did play a role. We're part of this partnership. There's an executive, and there's a legislative," he said.
"… We did a lot of work. We may not have voted particularly or whatever, but we put a lot of work in this. I'm a little disappointed that we constantly get looked over."
Tags: ARPA, federal funds,
