The current occupants of Cleveland City Hall are enjoying a unique windfall. They get to spend half a billion dollars in free money from the federal government.
For the most part, Mayor Justin Bibb and City Council have figured out what they want to do with the $511.7 million that Cleveland received from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Now City Hall has to spend the money across dozens of projects. That isn’t as simple as running up a $500 million credit card bill. Lawyers have to write contracts and accountants have to review piles of invoices.
Cleveland has cued up ARPA money for major projects across the city. Here are just a few: expanding broadband internet access, building more affordable housing, assembling land for new employers and fixing up city streets.
Below, explore how Cleveland has spent its pandemic stimulus dollars so far. The mayor’s office provided Signal Cleveland with project-by-project dollar figures maintained by the Finance Department. We organized the projects into the charts below, assigning each item a category that may or may not correspond with those used by the Bibb administration. We also reviewed Cleveland City Council’s records tracking ARPA legislation.
These numbers are current as of Dec. 31, 2024. We’ll keep updating this page with new figures as City Hall makes them available.
Total ARPA dollars spent as of the end of December: $301.6 million
By the end of December, Cleveland had spent $301.6 million, or 58.9% of its ARPA allocation. That leaves another $210.1 million remaining.
But what does “spent” really mean? That sounds like an odd question, but it’s worth fleshing out. City Hall financial documents are full of unfamiliar budgetary categories like “encumbered” and “pre-encumbered.” There’s only one word in the city’s records that we’re following here: “expended.” That is the final step in the contracting and spending process. It means a check has gone out the door, and the money is no longer in the city’s keeping.
The city typically pays its contracts on a reimbursement basis. In other words, the city spends money on a project only after a contractor has done work. Contractors regularly submit invoices to City Hall and wait for payment. So that means ARPA dollars typically won’t show up in the “expended” column until work is done, invoiced and paid out.
There are two major ARPA projects that buck that trend: Cleveland’s $10 million violence prevention fund and $50 million fund to assemble and prepare land for new employers. The city transferred the dollars for both projects to the Cleveland Foundation, which will manage the funds.
Cleveland’s financial managers count the entire $60 million as “spent.” That’s how the project appears in our charts. The Cleveland Foundation announced its first $1 million in Neighborhood Safety Fund grants in late 2023.
Another example cuts in the opposite direction. Cleveland made a $20 million deal with DigitalC to connect more people with broadband internet. The city will pay DigitalC as the nonprofit hits benchmarks in its contract. So none of the broadband money is officially counted as spent even though there is a plan for spending it.
With that in mind, take a look at the projects Cleveland is supporting with ARPA money.
Cleveland ARPA spending by project
How to use this chart: Use the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner to select spending categories. The gray bar shows how much money was proposed or appropriated for a project. The gold bar shows how much has been spent. Mouse over each bar for more detail on the project.
ARPA appropriations: Compare Cleveland’s stimulus projects
How to use this chart: Below, see how much ARPA money the administration and City Council have set aside for each project. Click on the edge of each colored square to get a closer look at each spending category. Or you can select a category from the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner of the chart. Mouse over each project for more details.