LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — On Tuesday night, the Little Rock Board of Directors decided how the city's American Rescue Plan Act dollars will be spent.
The decision didn't come without some pushback though— and some people in the capital city were feeling left out.
Little Rock received $18 million in total for the second round of ARPA funds.
The board had two plans before them; one plan sponsored by Director Doris Wright and the other by the mayor.
The board voted to approve Director Wright's plan, although it came with some changes.
The ARPA funds will be spent on the following:
- Fire facility improvements ($1.5 million)
- Senior center ($3 million)
- Parks and community centers ($1 million)
- Public works capital needs ($2.35 million)
- Downtown master plan capital needs ($1 million)
- Real-time crime information center ($1 million)
It will come to a total of $12.35 million dollars. Six million will be left over— but that's where there was some disagreement on what to do with the leftover money.
Director Webb wanted to amend a plan to use $1 million for food deserts. The plan passed.
Then, Director Phillips wanted to use another million for community improvement, especially within the South End neighborhood. This proposal was voted down.
"Yeah, I was shocked, surprised, and frustrated. It's very frustrating to see the can get kicked down the road again," said Malik Marshall, a member of the Arkansas Community Organization.
Marshall has been helping South End neighbors advocate for themselves to get more funding for underserved parts of the city.
Vice Mayor Hines put up a motion to come back to this matter in 3 months to reconsider allocating some of the $5 million to targeted communities.
Not everyone agreed with the decision, but the motion passed.
In a series of tweets late Tuesday night, Mayor Scott called the decision by board members of putting "politics over people."
"The board decided to wait until after the November election to vote on increasing affordable housing, preventing crime, providing assistance for small business, and making infrastructure improvements in underserve communities," Scott tweeted.
The mayor ended his tweet thread saying he was committed to "putting the people of our city over politics."
Part of the reason why the board didn't pass Director Phillips' motion for target communities was because residents just passed an infrastructure millage.
Marshall said that South End neighbors will be at those public meetings to discuss how that money will be used in their neighborhood.
Additionally, they plan to be at the board meeting in 90 days when the ARPA funds issue comes up again.