How do you want Nashville to spend $142M in COVID relief money? Metro officials want to hear.

Nashville has around $12.5 million left of its second round of federal COVID-19 relief money, which is known as American Relief funds or ARP.

The city is expecting another $129.5 million this summer.

In December, the police department asked the Metro Council’s COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee for $6 million to spend on replacing old tasers. Ultimately, the money came from the city’s budget. But it made organizers and councilmembers question what the city’s strategy is to spend the federal relief money.

Councilmembers have debated if the money should remove some homeless encampments in parks and if the city should focus more on closing inequities people of color owned businesses faced in getting federal relief money. On top of that, community organizations have called on the city to put money toward preventative measures to fight crime.

Now, the city has a survey for residents to rank what areas are a priority for the city to spend the rest of the money on. The deadline to complete the form is Monday, Jan. 31.

This along with the 2020 Equity Alliance report and Metro Social Services 2021 Community Needs Assessment will help the oversight committee and mayor’s office assess what should be prioritized and how needs should be met.

How much money did we get each round and how long of a deadline to spend? Where did we spend money? How much have we already spent?

CARES Act

• The city has already spent the CARES Act money, which was over $121 million in federal money. These funds could be used to fight COVID and allow the city to reimburse itself for unexpected costs the pandemic created like telework, mask enforcement, etc.
• Overall, the money mainly went to Metro Nashville for emergency response like overtime, hazard pay, etc.
• The only thing left is a COVID-19 reserve fund. It started out with $29.8 million and has been used for the city’s response to the virus. It’ll fluctuate as the city applies for FEMA relief.

American Rescue Plan

• Nashville received $259.8 million and has until 2024 to spend the money.
• The feds said the city could use the money to reimburse the government’s revenue downfall because of COVID, making sure small businesses, households and hard-hit industries recover, pay essential workers more and improving water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. Over time, federal guidance expanded that to include violence prevention.
• The federal government emphasizes that this money is temporary and shouldn’t be used to create new programs or add-ons. Instead, it encourages cities to use it on infrastructure since it isn’t reoccurring and will have long-term benefits.
• This is where councilmembers began to question what the city’s strategy is since fighting the pandemic has changed in nature. So far, the city has spent money on MNPD to start a pilot program pairing mental health professionals with police, for Metro’s health department to advance its electronic health records system and Metro Fire upgrading its fleet.
• For now, Nashville hasn’t decided how to spend $12.5 million and plans to receive the second ARP funds in the summer.

Who has been driving what we spend? Who did the mayor’s office listen to in order to inform this?

• The mayor’s office created the framework for what requests should be submitted. The oversight committee has been working from this since September.
• The mayor’s office says they relied on Metro’s social services needs assessment, unmet needs from CARES Act funding and the Equity Alliance’s report.

Are we getting more money?

The Metro Finance Department doesn’t expect to receive more from the federal government. It could receive grants from the state for water and sewer infrastructure projects. The city will keep an eye out for more chances to get state money.