San Antonio schedules town hall meetings to tackle American Rescue Plan Act funds

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — The City of San Antonio wants to know how you would like to see the federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act be used.

San Antonio was awarded $326.9 million under ARPA with $94.5 million of that total earmarked to stabilize the city budget. The remaining $229.4 million will be allocated through City Council and public input at eight scheduled town hall meetings that begin this weekend.

“During the pandemic, San Antonio along with the rest of the world experienced major health and economic disruptions. The City has presented a spending framework for the use of these one-time federal funds to continue responding to the pandemic, address immediate community needs and make impactful investments,” said City Manager Erik Walsh. “I’d like to invite all of our residents to join us at one of eight community-wide town hall meetings to share their feedback. We are looking forward to seeing you and engaging with you on this important matter.”

City officials said that there are five factors of consideration that will help develop the plan that includes addressing critical and urgent community needs, investments in one-time projects that would be completed by 2026, “transformational” city projects, investments to address inequities and root causes of disparities, and to leverage partnerships with local partners.

• Nov. 6 starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Palo Alto College Legacy Ballroom
• Nov. 6 starting at 3 p.m. at the Las Palmas Library
• Nov. 9 starting at  7 p.m. at the Alicia Treviño Lopez Senior Center
• Nov. 10 starting at 7 p.m. at the Northeast Senior Center
• Nov. 13 starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Bob Ross Senior Center
• Nov. 15 starting at from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ella Austin Auditorium
• Nov. 16 starting at from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Southside Lions Senior Center
• Nov. 17 starting at from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the St. Paul Community Center

The meetings will be streamed live on TVSA and through the city’s Facebook page in addition to being broadcast on AT&T 99, Grande 20, Spectrum 21 and digital antenna 16.1. Residents can listen live on the phone by calling 210-207-555.