The City of Kingston is using its remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for small businesses on a local business hardship grant program (BHGP) awarding $7500 each to four applicants who can demonstrate their businesses were adversely impacted by ARPA-funded infrastructure work conducted by or at the direction of the city in 2024.
The four grants are available to small businesses affected by anyone of five infrastructure projects: Post Office Park, Dietz Stadium, Clinton Avenue Streetscape, Henry Street Streetscape, and ADA Sidewalk Ramps.
“We had set aside just over a million dollars for small business support out of our (ARPA) allocation,” said Kingston mayor Steve Noble. “This is the last of that kind of bucket that we wanted to use. We felt like this would be a good end to that program and to just kind of get the rest of this money out the door.”
According to the rules, applicants must show documented evidence that their revenue dropped during construction periods on streets or sidewalks adjacent to their business. Grant funds can be used for anything from rent to mortgage, utilities to payments for installed equipment, other business-related equipment like computers or software, product inventory to signage, and technical assistance to counseling or other business-planning.
“I think that that’s one of the great things also about the federal resources that we received,” Noble said. “While there is a playbook that we have to follow that was developed by the feds on what we can and cannot use and their specific dates and their specific uses, it was also a very broad program. And really, as long as you had like a legal expense, like some sort of expense that falls within like the bounds of law, you’re able to basically have those types of things funded.”
Noble wished all federal programs were generous with the rules and regulations. “With ARPA, we were basically given the money up front, and then had a certain amount of time to spend it down. And that is itself is unique from all of the other federal programs where usually we have to spend the money and get reimbursed. That would be a lot for communities to shell out.”
The two-week BHGP application period opened on Wednesday, October 2, and will end this Wednesday, October 16.
Municipal ARPA recipients have until December 31, 2024 to exhaust or forfeit their remaining funding.
ARPA, a $1.9-trillion economic stimulus bill, was signed into law by president Joe Biden on March 11, 2021 to accelerate the economic and health recovery following the global pandemic. The City of Kingston received $17.3 million in ARPA funding.
Noble said Kingston’s range of ARPA projects allowed the funding to make an impact across the city.
Some communities put all their money into one sewer project,” Noble noted. Kingston tried to be diverse in its programs and its projects.
“I think we’ve been somewhat kind of unique in the state in terms of the sheer number of projects that we had compared to other places,” said Noble. “So my team is tired, but we did the right thing, I think, by being aggressive with the ARPA funding.”
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