Board discusses rescue fund use

TEXARKANA — Streets, sewers, drainage, airport improvements and premium pay for employees are the priorities spotlighted last week during a workshop of the Texarkana Board of Directors on how to spend nearly $8 million in federal funds.

City directors met to begin the formal process of allocating the funds, awarded in the American Rescue Plan Act this spring. City Manager Jay Ellington and Finance Director TyRhonda Henderson explained what the covid-19 relief money can and cannot be spent on and outlined three recommendations.

The city has received half of its allocated $7.92 million and will get the other half in May 2022. The city has until the end of 2024 to obligate the money and until the end of 2026 to complete any projects it pays for.

Mayor Allen Brown cautioned the board to remember that some projects that will be funded likely will not be completed for two or three years, or perhaps even longer.

All three recommendations include spending more than $1.63 million on Texarkana Regional Airport and setting aside $791,600, or 10% of the total, for administrative costs. They differ in their emphasis on other priorities.

The first proposal would allocate about $2.87 million for streets, $200,000 for premium pay, $1.9 million for Texarkana Water Utilities improvements to the Nix Creek sewage system and $500,000 for the Public Works Department to improve drainage infrastructure.

The second would allocate $2.9 million for streets, increase premium pay to $400,000 and decrease the sewer project’s allocation to $1.72 million and drainage projects’ to a little more than $471,000.

The third recommendation would allocate $1 million to streets, $600,000 to premium pay, $1.52 million to the sewage project and $2.37 million to the drainage projects.

Henderson asked board members to choose which of the three they each prefer. The board will hold another workshop, probably in September, to discuss a specific budget plan for the funds and then vote on approving it in the form of a resolution during a regular meeting.

The Public Works Department is nearing completion of an engineering study of city streets.

It will be used to prioritize by ward which are in most need of major repairs. City staff will use the study to recommend which specific street projects should be funded.

The street and airport spending would fall under allocations to offset the city’s revenue loss because of the pandemic, which is one of four uses for American Rescue Plan funds that cities are allowed.

The other three are public health and negative economic impact; premium pay for employees at risk of covid-19 exposure in the course of their work; and water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.