Harrisburg City Council on Tuesday
Harrisburg is preparing to start spending a large portion of its federal COVID relief funds.
City Council on Tuesday approved the appropriation of $18.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the city to spend on affordable housing, home repairs and blighted property demolition, among other projects.
In total, Harrisburg received $47 million in ARPA money. In 2022, council voted to use $15.6 million to reimburse the city for pandemic revenue losses and for bonuses for fire and police bureau employees, among other allocations. In July 2023, council allocated the remaining $31.4 million to go into the city’s general fund as revenue replacement, but specified certain projects that the money would fund.
At Tuesday’s legislative session, council voted to move $18.8 million of that $31.4 million into Harrisburg’s 2024 budget for spending.
The allocations include $8 million for an affordable housing program, which will provide up to $2 million each to developers building affordable housing as defined by federal standards, and $5 million for home repairs to low-income households. Another $2 million will be used to pay for low-income residents’ overdue trash bills, $500,000 will go towards tree removal and pruning services for low-income and elderly residents and $1.5 million will help demolish blighted buildings. Additionally, $1 million will help nonprofits providing bridge housing programs and $25,000 will assist local senior programs. Another $600,000 will cover costs associated with project administration.
Council has also previously expressed its intent to use funds to renovate the Hall Manor pool, construct an ADA-accessible playground, create a workforce development program for youth, fund a “Community Matters” grant program for underserved businesses and nonprofits and create “community connection hubs” in the city to assist with workforce development. However, money has yet to be allocated in the budget to those projects.
Also at their meeting, council approved an update to Harrisburg’s Building and Housing Development Code that would modernize the system and give the city the power to directly fine property owners. The city’s code now aligns with the most recent 2018 International Code Council’s International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) instead of the 2000 edition, which the city was using.
The city will now contract with Wallace, Montgomery & Associates for as-needed engineering services, as council approved the measure on Tuesday. The firm will help fill in for the city’s engineering department, as city Engineer Dan Snow said he has resigned.
Additionally, council awarded $45,000 in funding to the Capital Area Greenbelt Association, which handles maintenance on the city-owned sections of the Greenbelt. Council also approved an agreement with the association for its design, construction and restoration of the Paxtang Parkway Creek and Trail.
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