September 30, 2026, marked the City of St. Louis’ deadline for contractors, subrecipients and grantees to complete work and incur costs under their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) contracts and awards. The milestone closes the delivery phase of the City’s $498,076,054 allocation of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). It opens a final, three-month closeout period before the federal expenditure deadline of December 31, 2026.Under ARPA, the City received one of the largest per-resident ARPA allocations of any major U.S. city: $498 million. A resident Stimulus Advisory Board, a revived Citizen Advisory Committee and a seven-language survey answered by more than 5,000 residents shaped how the money was split.Over five years, the City appropriated its full allocation through 17 ordinances. While many cities placed their ARPA funds in a few large buckets; St. Louis spread its allocation across 416 distinct projects, and executed more than 868 contracts approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.”When I took office, 55% of the ARPA funds were not spent and we had 18 months left to spend those funds, or face returning them to the federal government,” said Mayor Cara Spencer. “Our administration took this mandate seriously, starting weekly tracking meetings, and consistent reporting. This year alone we paved 34 miles of road, replaced 5,300 feet of water pipe, and updated more than 70 hydrants.”The vast number of projects and contracts was a new challenge for the City. More than a dozen City departments and agencies managed them including the ARPA Compliance Team, the City Counselor’s Office, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the Board of Aldermen, the Comptroller’s Office, the Budget Division, and the Treasurer’s Office.”Behind each of these 416 projects is a City employee who wrote a scope, reviewed an invoice, checked a payroll or walked a job site,” Mayor Spencer said. “They took on federal compliance requirements they had never seen, on top of their regular jobs. St. Louis owes them real thanks.”Many programs were delivered by community organizations, public agencies or contracted private firms. No ARPA program was run by City employees alone. Departments built a network of more than 50 nonprofits, public agencies and private firms to deliver vaccines, food, housing, legal help, behavioral health care, youth jobs, small business grants and construction. Through those partnerships, the City put the dollars to work in extraordinary ways. While a more comprehensive report is forthcoming, here are a few highlights:Improved more than 30 miles of main roadways, including Kingshighway, Grand Ave., Jefferson Ave., Goodfellow, Union, and Broadway, and overhauled the city’s 10 most dangerous intersectionsSupported tornado recovery with home weatherization, home repairs, home inspections, asbestos surveys, title searches, and program and case managementInstalled free public Wi-Fi across downtown streets, city parks, and com 

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