Out of 10 top priorities identified by the Town of Warren following a survey sent out to residents nearly three years ago regarding how to spend $3.14 million in federal Covid relief money, less than a third of that overall amount was actually spent on those priorities, according to an analysis by the Times-Gazette.

In the fall of 2021, the Town sent out a survey to residents asking them to rank a list of 10 areas they had identified as worthwhile and acceptable uses of the federal relief money. The ranking of these uses they got, based on the responses, were as follows:

1. Improve food security for children in graders K-12
2. Storefront improvement program in Qualified Census Tract
3. Compensate for town revenues lost due to Covid-19
4. Expand plans for a new fire station to incorporate regional training space, flexible spaces for testing, vaccinations, and other health response needs
5. Improving broadband infrastructure to underserved areas of town
6. Address Health Equity Zone (HEZ) concerns in conjunction with East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP)
7. Provide seed funding for affordable housing trust fund
8. Communicate project plans around ARPA to the community
9. Assistance with data analytics
10. Address transportation issues for employers

Nearly three years later all Covid relief money has been obligated, as we explored in a story last week. So how did these priorities actually stack up now that we have an accounting of the spending?

Maintenance, equipment, and services dominated spending

As seen in the pie chart, the single-largest use of all American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding went towards maintenance of Town facilities, which didn’t actually appear as a priority on the Town’s list when assessing how to use the money.

The lion’s share of over $1.9 million in ARPA funding dedicated to maintenance of facilities went to the Warren Wastewater Treatment Plant, which drew over $690,000 in ARPA funds (primarily coming from a $625,000 expense to replace its sludge tanks and rails).

Additionally, ARPA money was used to upgrade equipment at the Warren Transfer Station ($250,000), to pay for $100,000 in future road paving, and to match state grants for various resiliency-related infrastructure projects throughout Town.

Add to that $251,095 for the purchase of new equipment (including $86,000 for a new police cruiser) and the hiring of consultants or specialists to assist with technological upgrades (including a worthwhile $31,746 to upgrade the camera/mic setup for remote viewing of municipal meetings), and you get a total of just under $2,160,000 spent on maintenance, equipment, and professional services from the roughly $3,140,000 in available funds — 68.8% of the total funding available.

How much did the 10 priorities receive?

Going down the line from the top priority to the bottom:

1. Food security — $150,000

The Town funded three years of a program initiated through local food business incubator nonprofit, Hope & Main, originally called “Nourish Our Neighbors” and now called “Main Street Meals”.

We have written about this program in the past, which has earned widespread acclaim for its ability to get meals to people in need during the height of the pandemic that were also healthier, made of fresh, local ingredients, and sourced by food companies primarily owned by women and people of color.

In this writer’s opinion, the positive results achieved with this small amount relative to the total pot of money available demonstrates that perhaps even more should have been allocated towards this top identified priority.

2. Storefront Improvement Program — $250,000 budgeted (only $220,000 accounted for)

Through examining the list of ARPA-funded projects obtained by the Times-Gazette, it appears that only a little over $220,000 of money was actually expended towards a storefront improvement program that originally received support for up to $250,000 from the Town Council.

The results of these projects, however, can be seen throughout Town as a success story, with multiple prominent businesses along the Town’s most populated area receiving financial assistance to fix up and rejuvenate their facades.

3. Compensate for lost revenues — $455,869

Twice, the Town of Warren set aside $225,000 to plug budget holes (in the FY23 and FY24 budgets, both times to pay for a salary line item that did not have adequate revenue to compensate), which resulted in structural deficits the following years.

The Town also used $5,869.98 in ARPA funding to replace revenue that came in under projections in the FY23 budget.

4. Expand plans for new fire station — $49,100

Listed in the ARPA projects are two payments of $12,275 and one payment of $24,550 for conceptual design work to be done on a new Warren Fire and Rescue headquarters, which has been discussed off an on for the past few years, but would have required a significant contribution from the Town through a voter-approved bond to build.

That bond initiative did not appear on the ballot in 2022, and Fire Chief James Sousa said that the project is on hold pending the ability to secure funding.

5. Improve broadband to underserved areas — $17,034

The Town spent $14,634 on a a study from HCH Enterprises, LLC, and an additional $2,400 from HCH for unspecified consulting, ostensibly related to broadband. However, these expenses occurred at the end of Fiscal Year 2022 (between April and June of 2022), and nothing of substance about municipal broadband has been discussed since.

6. Address Health Equity Zone Concerns — $40,993

The Town provided two ARPA-funded boosts to health services, including around $32,000 to EBCAP and $9,000 to the Warren Health Equity Zone.

7. Provide seed funding for affordable housing trust — $0

The Town originally had plans to put aside ARPA funding to initiate an affordable housing trust, which would be charged with providing financial assistance to encourage affordable housing development and assist homebuyers. The Town Council originally allocated $250,000 towards this goal, however, any plans to start that fund have since been put on hold due to the financial crisis that began last December with the lawsuit settlement.

8. Communicate ARPA plans to community — ???

It is not clear what this priority entailed, or if any applicable spending has actually been initiated towards this goal.

9. Assistance with data analytics — $0

While the Town has contracted with multiple different providers to receive software upgrades and consulting on technology-based issues, no funding towards specifically data analytics has been logged or described in the project list provided.

10. Address transportation issues for employers — $0

Another priority that was not entirely clear when it was established, no transportation-specific items had been funded via ARPA in our accounting of the purchases.

Total spent on these priorities: $932,996 (29.7% of total ARPA funding)