Nashville officials grapple with how to prioritize American Rescue Plan relief funds

The Metro Council on Tuesday approved the allocation of $49.2 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds, $40.2 million of which will bolster the creation of affordable housing.

But the remaining $9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds slated to purchase 142 new vehicles — including 128 new police vehicles — proved a point of contention for some council members.

The council approved the $40.2 million allocation 34-1 with one abstention. The funds will be split between the Barnes Housing Trust Fund and a new Catalyst Fund designed to support fast action to preserve affordable units. The $9 million fleet allocation passed 25-8, with three council members abstaining.

Elected officials and COVID-19 Financial Oversight committee members are grappling with how to best prioritize the ARPA funds amid increasing pressure to put community support programs ahead of capital requests.

"We have been in the habit lately of using these funds to fund inanimate objects and things and not fully funding the human toll that this virus has taken on us," said Council member Ginny Welsch, who voted against the fleet allocation.

Metro is set to receive $267 million from the American Rescue Plan over two years. Of that total, the city appropriated $29 million as of Monday, according to Deputy Finance Director Mary Jo Wiggins. Tuesday's approvals bring the figure to $78.2 million.

"The intended use of these funds is much broader" than CARES Act dollars, Wiggins said, adding American Rescue Plan dollars can also be used for public safety measures.

The COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee is creating a survey through HUB Nashville to gauge community members' spending priorities, but the survey is not yet complete.

The council deferred until February a separate resolution that would ask the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee to review and propose a $70 million ARPA appropriation for economic development in disadvantaged communities and small business recovery. 

Council member Jennifer Gamble, also a member of the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee, said the panel put off fleet needs and other requests when allocating the first round of CARES Act funding, focusing instead on community needs like food, rent and mortgage relief and funds for small businesses.

"This time, we have more funding and more time to address all of the needs of the city," Gamble said regarding the oversight committee's support of funding for the vehicle fleets.

Debate over use of ARPA funds for police vehicles, equipment

President Joe Biden said in June that cities and states can use portions of the American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to them toward public safety efforts.

The Metro Nashville Police Department referred to Biden's guidance in justifying the fleet request as well as a $6 million request for Tasers that has not yet been reviewed by Metro Council. The department reported its current Tasers are "obsolete" and will cease to function in less than a year.

Building the department's fleet would allow officers "adequate time to clean and sanitize vehicles between uses or transports," cut down on wait times for vehicles during shift changes, reduce response times and allow detectives to have department vehicles equipped for investigations, Metro Nashville Chief of Police John Drake wrote in a letter to council members last week.

More vehicles are also necessary for the police department's planned switch from five-day work weeks with 8.5-hour shifts to four-day weeks with 10.5-hour shifts.

At-large Council member Bob Mendes opposed the funds for new vehicles coming from American Rescue Plan dollars in a blog post last week, arguing that the funds should be spent on community members suffering from the pandemic first.

"The need is real, I appreciate it, but we need to figure out some way where the city's recurring revenue pays for our recurring expenses like fleet and focus our (COVID-19 relief) money elsewhere," Mendes said at the Budget and Finance Committee meeting Monday.

Council member Courtney Johnston, who serves on the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee, said the cost of the new "light fleet" vehicles could not be covered in a capital spending plan, which are designed for purchasing heavy equipment.

The Council "inherited a mess with fleet issues," she said Monday, noting that Metro Council approved a $996,500 allocation to purchase COVID-19 related response vehicles and technology for the Office of Emergency Management  in October and $4.7 million for Nashville Fire Department vehicles and equipment in November.

"We're in a big hole, and I do think that it's appropriate to use these funds — free funds, this gift — to help get us out of the hole," Johnston said.

USA Today contributed.

Reach reporter Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephenson@tennessean.com or at (731) 694-7261. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.