Office of Recovery reports $1.68B allocated to ARPA projects; $81.3M remains to spend

Andrea Clark, director of program coordination at the Office of Recovery, briefed the committee on ARPA spending through Aug. 31, 2026. "We have about $81,300,000 left to spend out of the allocated projects," she said, and reported a current fund balance of roughly $8.3 million. Clark said total project allocations since 2021 (award plus interest) total about $1.68 billion and that transfers directed by the legislature were completed where funds were available.

Clark listed four projects approved and transferred (Beyond Visual Line of Sight navigation; a dairy facility; Belong KC construction in Johnson County; and moderate income housing) and said two legislatively directed projects — $10 million for Department of Commerce economic development and $1 million for the State Historical Society (Fort Dodge junior officer project) — could not be funded at that time because recoupments from prior projects had not yet been returned. She said agencies report monthly for federal reporting and that the Office of Recovery built MOAs with project recipients that include September/October targets for closeouts to allow federal reporting adjustments before the federal obligation and expenditure deadlines.

Committee members asked whether interest funds previously used to fund projects would allow reallocation; Clark said the office may exchange projects in federal reporting (for example, replacing a project funded with interest dollars on the federal report with a completed project) so returned funds can be redeployed without necessarily returning money to the U.S. Treasury. Clark also confirmed ARPA prime award obligations must be liquidated by the federal deadlines and described MOA deadlines designed to meet those rules.