Howard County Executive Calvin Ball released the 2022 American Rescue Plan Annual Report, which details how the county has utilized $26.2 million out of its $63.3 million ARP funding to date and additional planned uses for the relief funding.

Howard received the first half of its ARP allocation of $31.6 million in June 2021, and the second half was received in June 2022. The county also released a new ARP Dashboard (www.howardcountymd.gov/finance/american-rescue-plan-arp-funding) that tracks how relief funding is spent across community priorities.

To date Howard has expended $26.2 million of its initial $31.6 million ARP allocation, focusing its spending on education, health care and frontline workers, housing, public safety and business and industry support.

Supporting county schools, students and educators have been a top priority, with nearly $11 million in county ARP funding expended on HCPSS educators, school bus drivers and for the expansion of school-based mental health services to all public schools in Howard County. 

Investment in health care workers and programming has been a priority as the county continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly $8 million provided to support Howard County General Hospital, Howard County Health Department and front-line county employees, community-based mental health services and the expansion of COVID-19 testing resources.

Other expenditures include $2 million for foreclosure prevention grants to homeowners, nearly $1.6 million for the County’s Body Worn Camera program, and more than $800,00 in industry support for tourism, small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

The full survey results are available at www.howardcountymd.gov/finance/american-rescue-plan-arp-funding.