Water, sewer, other essential services get most attention
By Jane Musgrave
With nearly $48 million from the federal government to jump-start the economy from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, municipalities in southern Palm Beach County have upgraded water and sewer lines, built a fire station, armed police and paid frontline workers.
The money from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act — more than the combined annual budgets of six of the area’s 10 smallest municipalities — is running out.
Local governments, including those from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton, have until Dec. 31 to decide how to spend what they have left of the windfall. All of the money, which began flowing in July 2021, must be spent by the end of 2026.
Money that isn’t earmarked or spent would have to be returned to the federal treasury.
While most towns and cities have used up their allotments, Boynton Beach still has $5.3 million to spend of the $13.6 million it received.
When reviewing previously approved projects, the city’s grants manager discovered that one of the projects — nearly $100,000 to install audiovisual equipment at the Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center — wasn’t eligible under the rules of the federal program.
Worried that other ineligible projects may have slipped through and the city could be in jeopardy of losing its remaining money, grants manager Mirna Crompton combed through city records.
“I just wanted to make sure we go by the books,” she said, adding that no other ineligible projects were found.
After finding another way to pay for the arts center equipment, the city revised its spending plan.
“We definitely burned some midnight oil to make sure that the city didn’t lose those funds,” City Manager Daniel Dugger told commissioners in August, days after federal officials said they wouldn’t penalize the city.
The remaining money is likely to be used for road paving, Dugger said. Other projects are on the table. The final decision will be made by city commissioners.
Like other cities, Boynton Beach used much of the money, roughly $3.6 million, to replace cash it lost when demands for services, particularly police and fire-rescue, soared even as sales and gas taxes, building permit fees and other revenue plummeted because worried people stayed in their homes during the pandemic.
Boynton shares the wealth
Boynton Beach used another $1.6 million for overtime or hazard pay for workers and $295,000 to encourage its employees and others, particularly vulnerable seniors and low-income residents, to get COVID-19 shots by rewarding them with $100 gift cards at city-run vaccination centers.
But, unlike other cities, Boynton Beach also shared the money with others in the community.
It provided $350,000 in grants to small business owners, gave $910,000 to its public schools to boost academic achievement and sent $75,000 to Pathways to Prosperity, a Boynton Beach-based nonprofit that provides services to low-income children and families.
It also did an affordable housing study and contributed $500,000 to Wells Landing, to cover pandemic-related construction cost increases in the 132-unit workforce housing community on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
“We wanted the residents and the taxpayers to see what the relief funds were used for,” Dugger said of the city’s philosophy.
Boca’s grant ‘not pennies’
Boca Raton and Delray Beach, which, along with Boynton Beach, are South County’s largest cities and therefore the largest beneficiaries of the relief program, said they used much of the extra cash to cover revenue that was lost because of the pandemic.
Delray Beach officials said the city used $10 million of its $10.9 million allocation on “essential government services,” namely public safety expenditures. The remaining roughly $956,000 is to be spent on stormwater-related projects, according to a city spokesperson.
Boca Raton City Manager George Brown acknowledged the $12.2 million the city received was substantial. “It is definitely helpful. It is not pennies,” he said.
Boca Raton used the money for “revenue replacement,” said Ileana Olmsted, a spokesperson for the city. The bulk of it, $9.2 million, was put in Boca Raton’s general fund, which is used to pay for services, including public safety, she said. The remaining $3 million was set aside for capital improvements. No specific projects were named.
Lantana, which received $6.3 million, used the money for a variety of projects, according to town records. The town used it to pave streets, repair sea walls and buy equipment, including four vehicles, a drone and less lethal weapons for police, and for water and sewer improvements.
Coastal town priorities
Smaller towns, such as Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and Highland Beach, also allocated money for water and sewer projects.
Ocean Ridge, for instance, is using its nearly $980,000 in relief money to install a new water main on North Ocean Boulevard. Manalapan is using its roughly $230,000 allocation for upgrades in its reverse osmosis water system.
Highland Beach spent about $460,000 on sewer line improvements. But, the bulk of its money, $1.5 million, went toward building a new fire station and for fire-fighting equipment.
South Palm Beach received $736,255 and used it to replace lost revenue.
Gulf Stream received $493,000, which it spent on across-the-board revenue replacement in fiscal year 2023 for public works and the Police Department.
Briny Breezes received almost $290,000. Half was spent toward a new water main, $80,000 for a topographical town wind survey, and finally $65,000 for a conceptual drainage plan.
The money for the smaller municipalities came through the state and was distributed based on population. Larger cities received distributions from the federal government based on population and their percentage of low-income people.
Nationally, $350 billion was sent to state and local governments to help them deal with effects of the pandemic.
Mary Hladky, John Pacenti, Brian Biggane, Rich Pollack and Steve Plunkett contributed to this story.
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