Oxford has allocated the last of its American Rescue Plan funds. Where has the money gone?

As the end of 2024 approaches, so does the deadline for municipalities across the U.S. to allocate funding received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.

Oxford received nearly $2.5 million from the $1.9 trillion bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. In addition to direct payments to Americans, the bill included $350 billion in total funding to state, county and local governments to help residents and economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a City Council meeting Dec. 3, Oxford allocated the final $38,000 it received in ARPA funding to aid in the installation of a flushing point assembly for the city’s Seven Mile well field. That figure capped off almost four years of putting federal funds to use on local housing, economic development and infrastructure initiatives.

While ARPA funds could be used to directly address the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19 and replace lost public sector revenue, governments have had wide latitude to support other initiatives, as well. The U.S. Treasury’s website specifically references water, sewer and broadband infrastructure, natural disaster relief, surface transportation projects and supporting Title I projects. While the money had to be allocated by Dec. 31 of this year, municipalities have until the end of 2026 to actually spend it.

In addition to the money Oxford received directly, the city also applied to and received $2.5 million from Butler County, which got $74 million from the federal government. The city will use $1.5 million of those funds to support construction of a one-stop social services facility for the Talawanda-Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS) and $1 million for affordable housing infrastructure.

Oxford officials and staff opted to put nearly a third of the city’s ARPA funds toward housing initiatives, including nearly $750,000 spent on purchasing properties on Hester Road and Chestnut Street to use as sites for future affordable housing developments. The city also spent $575,000 on two houses on South Elm Street for economic development goals.

“One of the things that was remarkable and helpful … is it was very flexible,” said Anne Williamson, an associate professor of political science at Miami University. “Unlike many federal programs that address, for instance, housing need issue or work related to homelessness, this was very flexible and therefore very powerful in terms of the assistance it gave to individual households and also to states and municipalities.”

The fact that the bill gave funding to so many local governments was also unique, Williamson said. Federal funds are often only available through competitive processes. Oxford’s strategy of buying property, Williamson said, could actually help the city acquire more federal funding for affordable housing projects in the future because the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which supports private investment in multi-family housing units, cannot cover the cost of land.

Assistant City Manager Jessica Greene keeps binders full of information regarding how ARPA funding can be spent. Before allocating any of the city’s funds, she attended several webinars. City Council members and city staff then held multiple work sessions to determine their priorities in how to spend the money.

Based on community feedback, Greene said the city settled on affordable housing, attracting new businesses and investing in city infrastructure.

“Our city took [the funding] and said, ‘We will never have this kind of money again. What’s something we’ve always wanted to do but haven’t been able to do?” Greene said.

Sherry Martin, executive director of TOPSS, said the funds which Oxford applied to on behalf of the organization through the county will be transformative. TOPSS is working with a firm now on the engineering work for the new one-stop services facility, and Martin hopes to break ground in March or April. The organization currently uses three separate buildings for separate services, and Martin said moving into one main building will help streamline the experiment for clients.

Once the new facility is finished, Martin hopes to invite other county agencies to use some of the space, helping clients who don’t have reliable transportation to Hamilton get the services they need.

“The project wouldn’t have happened without the ARPA funds,” Martin said. The organization had discussed creating a one-stop shop in previous years, but funding made it unrealistic.

Seth Cropenbaker, an economic development specialist for Oxford, said he sees the housing investments as benefiting the economy, as well. Most of the city’s direct economic development spending has concentrated on Elm Street, where the city bought two houses and invested in improvements to the College@Elm building. The College@Elm, a partnership between the city and Miami University, is intended to function as a business incubator and workforce development hub.

Cropenbaker said the city chose to buy two houses next to the building when the opportunity arose, and while they’re still student housing for now, the goal is to convert it into professional housing for non-students. He hopes the houses will help the city “create more opportunities that expand our permanent resident base and really kind of leverage and help fully realize the potential of the College@Elm.”

The city has also invested $50,000 of ARPA funding into developing an economic development strategic plan. Cropenbaker said the city is in the process of drafting a plan with consultants and has received more than 900 responses to a public survey to help inform the process.

Even projects which the city didn’t ultimately fund through ARPA money have seen movement in the past four years because of the bill. Greene said she advocated for the county to invest some of its ARPA funds into broadband internet access, which the Butler County Commissioners ultimately chose to do. Ideas like lead service pipe replacements and a public restroom Uptown also came up in work sessions on how to spend the federal funds, but Oxford has since financed those projects through grants and other revenue sources.

Local governments run on balanced budgets, and without the infusion of cash the bill gave Oxford for the past four years, the number of high-impact projects may dip in the coming years.

“The silver lining of COVID is this amazing opportunity through these funds to do these pretty substantial projects,” Greene said. “The downside is, now that the funding is gone, it will be hard for our community and our leaders to understand that there’s just no money for these big, bold ideas.”

Oxford’s ARPA spending, broken down

Housing:

• 601, 603 and 607 Chestnut Street property purchases: $595,061.52
• 5234 Hester Road property purchase: $150,000
• Family Resource Center assistance: $25,000
• TOPSS Cold Shelter funding: $15,000
• Other housing expenses: $20,749.14

Economic Development:

• 100 and 102 Elm St. Purchase: $575,158.65
• College@Elm building improvements: $134,000
• Economic Development Strategic Plan: $50,000
• Other economic development expenses: $1,370 

Infrastructure:

• ADA Ramps: $222,451.46
• Courthouse AV Upgrades: $33,634.45
• Other infrastructure expenses: $52,277.83

Other:

• TOPSS facility engineering, design and construction overage: $300,000
• Code Updates: $150,000
• Staff COVID-19 bonuses: $68,309.08
• Other expenses: $11,501.67