ST. LOUIS—Friday, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen moved to beat a Dec. 31 deadline to appropriate Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

The city received $498 million dollars in ARPA funding during the pandemic. It all needs to be allocated by the end of the month. 

In a pair of votes Friday, the Board of Aldermen committed $8.9 million to the city's new 911 center. Construction will begin next month.

Mayor Tishaura Jones posted on X that with the passage of the bill allocating the funds for the dispatch center, "every ARPA dollar that the City has received is on pace to be obligated before the Dec. 31 deadline."

The city's comptroller still needs to sign off on contracts to spend more than $100 million in ARPA funds by the end of the year.

Comptroller Darlene Green said in a statement, "The recently updated final regulations for ARPA gives the city a fighting chance to push the millions of dollars through the pipeline." 

Green added her office is working with the administration to push departments to get the remaining ARPA contracts to Board of Estimate and Apportionment by Dec. 18 for final processing.