When Congress approved the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, Guilford County government got a one-time allocation of just over $104 million, an unprecedented one-time infusion of federal money that was intended to help local governments respond to the public health emergency, stabilize essential services and address longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Guilford County’s ARPA tracking dashboard, all $104.34 million has now been formally allocated and obligated to specific projects.
As of the most recent update, just over $77 million has actually been spent. The remainder is tied up in projects that are still active or under development.
Back in 2021, it was like the federal government pointed a firehose of money at the county and one former county commissioner, who asked not to be named, said that it was like being in the movie Brewster’s Millions. That’s a 1985 Richard Pryor movie in which Pryor’s character, Montgomery Brewster, must spend $30 million in 30 days in order to get $300 million. Like the commissioners, Brewster had to follow certain rules, but, unlike in the movie, the county doesn’t get some big reward if it spends it all.
The money the county received has been spread across dozens of individual initiatives ranging from water and sewer infrastructure to public safety, housing, health services, and workforce development. Some projects are complete, while others are ongoing – and a smaller number are still listed as program development efforts rather than finished work.
A significant part of the funding has gone toward core county services and infrastructure, especially in projects that were either stressed or delayed during the pandemic. Several multi-million-dollar water and sewer projects remain active, including the Gibsonville Highway 61 water connector, the Gibsonville water tank project and stormwater improvements in Jamestown. Those projects fall under the ARPA category of water and sewer investment, which is one of the few uses of the funds that Congress explicitly encouraged for long-term capital improvements.
Public safety spending of these funds is another major category. Completed projects include technology upgrades in the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, detention officer and paramedic hiring and retention incentives programs, and the purchase of personal protective equipment for EMS staff.
These expenditures were tied to maintaining and stabilizing essential services during and after the pandemic – particularly at a time when staffing shortages and rising costs affected the Sheriff’s Office, emergency medical services and jail operations.
Guilford County also directed millions of the free federal dollars toward health-related programs, both physical and behavioral.
Completed projects include a food security program, EMT and paramedic academy expansion and GCSTOP – a behavioral health and substance use disorder initiative the county and its partners have undertaken.
Other health-related efforts – such as the fire academy and several protective services teams connected to family justice and social services – remain active.
Housing and homelessness programs account for another large share of ARPA spending. The county allocated $8 million to a homelessness task force initiative that remains active, along with more than $2.2 million for eviction mediation, landlord engagement and tenant support. These programs align with ARPA’s goal of addressing housing instability exacerbated by pandemic-related job losses and economic disruption.
Early childhood and family-focused services also appear repeatedly throughout the project list. Guilford County funded infant mortality initiatives, foster care availability efforts, and expanded navigation and referral services tied to healthy childhood environments.
Some of these programs are complete, while others remain active or in development. The infant mortality initiative alone accounted for nearly $1 million in spending.
Workforce and economic development projects – while smaller in dollar amount than infrastructure or housing – are also part of the overall ARPA picture. These include emerging talent career development, professional training, and support for small business and workforce programs such as expanding sustainable impact at the Forge.
These projects are generally listed as active and fall under the county’s small business, economy, and workforce development priority area.
Broadband and digital access received targeted funding as well. The county allocated money to provide mobile broadband capability for rural fire departments, a project that remains active. This use fits within ARPA’s digital inclusion framework, particularly for emergency response and rural service coverage.
One of the largest single allocations, $10 million, went to the Integrated Service Delivery Network, a multi-priority project that remains active. While the dashboard doesn’t detail operational specifics, the project is categorized as serving multiple priority areas, suggesting a countywide effort to improve coordination or delivery of services across departments.
Not all ARPA projects involved bricks and mortar or direct service delivery. Some funds were set aside for planning, program development or systems that support long-term capacity. The emergency therapeutic transitional foster care program and the legal support center are both listed as program development funding rather than completed or active service delivery.
In terms of status, the county’s ARPA portfolio is now split roughly three ways: completed projects, active projects, and those still in development. Many of the completed projects date back to 2021 and 2022, reflecting early pandemic response needs such as PPE, food security, and immediate staffing support. Later board approvals, particularly in October 2022, account for a large share of projects that are still underway.
While all $104.34 million has been committed on paper, the county still has work ahead to fully spend the remaining balance. Under federal rules, ARPA funds must be spent by the end of 2026, meaning Guilford County has a limited window to finish construction projects, finalize service programs and close out remaining obligations.
What the dashboard ultimately shows is that ARPA money in Guilford County was not concentrated in a single headline project but dispersed across a wide range of county responsibilities: Public safety, health services, housing, water infrastructure, and social services all received substantial funding.
One of the most wasteful ‘recovery’ programs in US history.
Don’t you love our government? First, they destroy business, jobs, freedoms with fake covid restrictions. Then they send out cash money and goodies to virtually everyone. All with money extorted from the taxpayer. We send much of our life’s sweat & blood, after the govt gets their cut, it filters it back out to their political advantage. Both parties are responsible for yet another SNAFU.
What concerns me most about these funds are that the county Will no longer have this money coming to it and we have expanded our expenses to a point that now we have to fund all these on going expenses. The only way to do this is to raise taxes.
Money spent on infrastructure like sewer or water projects don’t necessarily drive up on going expenses but many of these expenditures are for on going programs that will cost tax payers money and we can’t continue to raise property taxes to keep up with all these expenditures. Free money is like a free kitten. It’s not really free because you will have expenses for food, vet bills and other things you will get the cat.
You have to have prudence to mange this revenue and we have not shown very good management of things like this in the past.
Skip and his lady’s probably set up a quality lear center,