The City of Athens has learned it will receive more than $6 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, but there are a number of caveats on its use.

City Attorney Shane Black gave a presentation to the City Council during Monday’s meeting in an effort to educate city officials on what constitutes an appropriate use of those funds.

Black said Athens has already received $3,249,468.34 of $6,498,936.68 from ARPA, with the payments split in half across this year and 2022. President Joe Biden signed the ARPA legislation into law March 11 with the intent on providing federal funds to local governments for COVID-19-related expenses.

“That’s a lot of money, and it just fell from the federal sky upon the City of Athens,” Black said. “But there are lots of strings attached, so as Lee Corso would say, ‘Not so fast, my friend.’”

Black said the funds must be spent according to the purposes set forth in federal law and regulations. If any money is deemed to have been used inappropriately, the United States Treasury can “claw back” the funds that have been given.

As a broad overview, Black said funds must meet criteria laid out in one of four categories.

The first is to respond to the public health emergency or its negative impacts, including expenses related to vaccination programs or testing and monitoring of COVID-19. It also includes disproportionally impacted communities and programs or services that promote access to health and social services in them, as well as housing insecurity.

The second category is supplemental pay to eligible workers who have spent hours doing COIVD-related tasks.

The third category is to supplement revenue lost by cities and towns due to COVID-19, but Athens dd not qualify for this section.

“The City of Athens revenue actually increased during the pandemic, but not by much,” Mayor Ronnie Marks said. “I’ve been hearing there are many cities across the state who were also not eligible for this category.”

The final category is improvements to water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. Marks said there have already been a handful of projects brought before the City Council under this provision.

Black said the expenditure of these funds must be tracked and documented in detail by City Treasurer Annette Threet for the next five years, who will also be required to give an annual report.

Black said the funds must be allocated by Dec. 31, 2024, and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.

“Any funds remaining after that date get clawed back by the U.S. Treasury,” he said.

Council member Frank Travis asked how nonprofits and businesses could go about requesting assistance using ARPA funds. Marks said it would be up to the Council to write any regulations and determine that process.

Marks added some cities didn’t even apply for ARPA funds due to the amount of regulations involved.