Little Rock Board of Directors to consider 2 plans for federal relief money

LITTLE ROCK — Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors at a meeting today will consider two proposals to allocate money from the second tranche of federal recovery money received earlier this year.

One plan has been prepared by city staff and has the backing of Mayor Frank Scott Jr. The other is sponsored by City Director Doris Wright, who represents west-central Little Rock’s Ward 6.

As a result of the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March 2021, non-federal governmental entities such as states, counties and cities were allocated approximately $350 billion in direct aid subject to certain spending parameters.

With more than $37 million allocated to Little Rock, the state capital’s share was the largest among all Arkansas cities receiving aid.

Little Rock received the first half of its allocation, amounting to $18.8 million, in May 2021.

Discussions about how to spend the money from the second tranche were paused in the lead-up to the city’s Aug. 9 bond referendum.

At a June 21 meeting, before city board members could take a vote on whether to add it to the agenda, Wright asked that her alternative plan on the American Rescue Plan Act money be withdrawn.

At the time, she suggested she did not want it to distract from the then-upcoming referendum.

In the special election, voters approved all six categories of proposed capital improvements, which ranged from streets to construction of a new municipal court facility, and tied a $161.8 million bond issue to an extension on 3 mills that will be collected into 2023 and beyond.

Wright’s resolution before the board today would symbolically allocate $12.35 million, whereas the version from city staff would allocate $18.85 million, or the entirety of the second tranche.

Wright’s version would allocate money to the following items:

• Fire facility improvements — $1.5 million

• Senior center — $3 million • Parks and community centers — $3 million, including $1 million specifically for baseball fields at the West Central Community Center

• Public works capital needs — $2.35 million

• Downtown master plan and capital needs — $1.5 million • Real-time crime center — $1 million

The version from city staff would allocate money to the following items:

• Fire facility improvements — $1.5 million

• Senior center — $3 million • Parks and community centers — $4 million, including $1 million for baseball fields at the West Central Community Center as well as upgrades to the Dunbar, East Little Rock, Southwest and Stephens Community Centers

• Public works capital needs — $2.35 million

• Downtown master plan and capital needs — $1.5 million

• Real-time crime center — $1 million

• Affordable housing and housing assistance — $1 million

• Food deserts and access to healthy foods — $1 million*

• Infrastructure as economic development $1 million*

• Community violence intervention programs — $500,000 • Addressing health disparities via medical facilities — $500,000

• Covid-19 mitigation and prevention — $250,000

• Small business assistance — $250,000

• Water and sewer infrastructure — $1 million*

*Meant to support targeted community development.