Going into Monday night’s meeting, Springfield City Council had roughly $1.4 million left to spend from its $40 million portion of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The Rescue Plan was a Biden administration push passed in 2021 without Republican Party support in Congress. The law’s goal was to address lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, costing the federal taxpayer $1.9 trillion.
On March 25, Council will vote on a plan to spend roughly $900,000 in Rescue Plan funding on an improvement project for Cooper Park and Killian Park — which is budgeted around $30 million and already has received roughly $21 million in Rescue Plan funding, according to reporting by the Springfield Daily Citizen.
The spending proposal met with resistance from Springfield Tenants Unite, a renters’ union formed in 2020. Here’s Alice Barber speaking to City Council Monday night:
“This bill is about putting money into the sports complex at the park to attract people from out of town because tourists bring in business and generate tax revenue. And much of that tax revenue doesn’t come back to help folks like me and my family or my fellow tenants.”
And here’s Sarah Barnts, another Springfield Tenants Unite advocate:
“I’m truly sorry if this feels like an attack, but the city’s apparent disregard for health,
safety and relief of its residents also feels like an attack.”
So far, Springfield has spent approximately $15 million in Rescue Plan money on housing and homelessness issues, deputy city manager Collin Quigley told Council on Monday night.
