Cities are getting a windfall from Biden's COVID relief bill. Now how are they going to spend it?

[DonViejo]

Joey Garrison
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Mayors are accustomed to juggling priorities with limited city revenue: Park upgrades or staff pay increases? Street paving or that long-awaited new community center?

The crunch tightened during a global pandemic.

But an infusion of $350 billion in federal COVID-19 rescue funds now headed to local and state governments this week sets up a new – and welcomed – dilemma: how to spend a financial windfall.

Two months after President Joe Biden signed his American Rescue Plan into law, the Treasury Department on Monday made available a historic amount of direct aid to thousands of city and county governments. Local governments are in line to collectively receive more than $110 billion over two years in addition to $125 billion for the reopening of public schools. Another $195.3 billion will go to states.

more
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/14/cities-weigh-how-spend-covid-relief-billions/5042395001/

[jimfields33]

1. Pay the debt on pensions

That will open up money in the long run and be extremely positive for the future.