Thanks to President Biden's American Rescue Plan Act, Binghamton received just over $46 million in June 2021 to help with pandemic recovery needs, and the city has until December 31, 2026 to expend the funds. Below is a full accounting of the decisions made to date, according to information provided by the City of Binghamton. We reached out to Mayor Kraham and encouraged him to contact us if he wants to provide further clarification or a correction. Our goal is transparency, accountability, and accuracy. (Nearly a year later, and he has not responded even once.)

First, we share a simple summary of all ARPA allocations to date. We identify if the allocations were made by either former Mayor Rich David or current Mayor Jared Kraham based on when City Council approved the allocation. We then break down and describe the top ten (10) categories in more detail below.  

NOTE: The table below represents City Council approved expenditures through August 2023.

#1. Lost revenue, general fund:  $13,959,095

ARPA rules allow governments to use a portion of their award as reimbursement to cover unanticipated expenses or lost revenue due to the pandemic. The rules also state that any ARPA funds used for this purpose are NOT bound by the program's rules and can be spent in any manner imaginable.

In other words, this gives local and state governments a legal way to "launder" ARPA funds. The more ARPA funds they can allocate to their general fund as "lost revenue," the more they can spend freely on any project they want, without any constraints.

Binghamton has questionably decided to categorize almost 30% of the ARPA recovery award as "lost revenue."

Eligible but questionable--and definitely frustrating. Why? Because before Mayor David fully understood how to exploit the loopholes and program rules, his Comptroller calculated and presented to City Council in June 2021 COVID's full impact to City finances.

His estimate? About $3,500,000. 

But after Rich David hired an accounting firm that advised him of some "flexible" ways to compute lost revenue,  David and his Comptroller came back to City Council in August 2021 asking for $12 million in ARPA funds to be categorized as lost revenue. It was a slush fund the outgoing mayor and aspiring state senator couldn't pass up.

Watch this 90-second clip of the August 16 City Council meeting: Mayor David and his Comptroller happily explain how laundering works. The decision to launder almost four times more than the City's own calculations of how COVID impacted municipal finances was insulting and reckless. But it was downright irresponsible when you consider the City's general fund is the healthiest its been in decades, and according to the City's own annual reports, the general fund balance increased by end of year 2021. Read more about the City's strong finances here. 

Meanwhile, the City must still track and report to the U.S. Treasury how it's using ARPA funds swept into the general fund. Here's how Binghamton's "laundered" ARPA funds have been used, no longer bound by 'recovery' rules:

$7,000,000: Committed to help rebuild the Boscovs parking garage, a project that includes privately-owned, market-rate luxury housing
$2,000,000: Committed to the construction of the new fire station on Court Street
$530,000: Used to purchase new undercover police vehicles
$500,000: Established a grant program to help owners of commercial properties beautify their facades (Mayor Kraham's "poster child" for an owner in need of help is a developer planning a  $13 million market-rate rental housing project at old Crowley dairy plant, read more here)
$453,000: Allocated to cover expenses in other City funds, like the golf fund or parking fund
$85,000: Used to pay firefighters premium pay for working during the pandemic

About $3,400,000 remains of ARPA funds laundered through the general fund, and we can expect the Mayor and City Council to continue to squander them on activities that have nothing to do with recovery.

#2. Water and Sewer infrastructure: $10,800,000

According to program rules, ARPA funds can be used for three specific capital projects: water, sewer, and broadband. So these are eligible expenses, but these are also capital projects that the City has been funding for years and have nothing to do with ensuring an equitable recovery from COVID-19. In other words - and this is our opinion - City officials chose to use almost 25% of once-in-a-lifetime recovery funds to cover the annual, routine costs of maintaining and upgrading our city's water and sewer infrastructure.

#3. Affordable housing: $6,000,000

This may seem like a lot, but the details matter: 

 $3,000,000 was promised as a subsidy to the new corporate owners of the Town and Country apartments on the North Side of Binghamton to help them fix code violations that  threaten the health and safety of residents. According to comments by City officials, it is not clear whether the City is monitoring the repairs, or if these funds are actually committed. Interesting to note, this amount would have been more than enough to support a bold, community-led proposal to convert this low-income rental property into a condiminium that would grant low-income tenants a chance at owning the units and building weath, but this proposal was ignored by City officials at the time.
$2,000,000 was committed to the Broome County Land Bank to acquire and rehab at least ten tax-foreclosed single-family properties into new affordable homeownership opportunities for Binghamton residents.
$613,000 in ARPA funds was immediately committed to help affordable housing projects already underway by First Ward Action Council and Opportunities for Broome.
$387,000 has been committed to something related to affordable housing, according to City's records, but  it is not clear for what program, project, or purpose.

#5: Fix public buildings: $1,838,631

The upgrade and maintenance of public facilities and infrastructure is an ongoing responsibility that local governments should plan smartly for with a comprehensive, multi-year  Capital Improvement Plan. That's why it's frustrating to see Binghamton leaders direct unprecedented recovery funds meant to help those most impacted by the pandemic to routine maintenance projects instead.

$1,180,000: To fund routine maintenance and repairs at the City's fire stations
$659,000: To fix the roof of the City Council Chambers, which was damaged back in 2013. The irony is that City officials said this was a priority because they wanted to make sure Binghamton residents had a chance to attend public meetings and be engaged as citizens. Yet these same City officials never held a single community forum about ARPA; never asked citizens for ideas or insights; refuse to create a simple website that informs citizens of how ARPA funds are being used; and harass, insult, and even arrest local housing advocates who seek to hold them accountable.

#6: Public Safety: $1,630,160

ARPA funds can be used to address crime, particularly gun violence. However, it is odd that after a national dialogue about how police can't solve poverty, mental health, addiction, and homelessness---many drivers of crime--ARPA funds meant to help communities recover from a pandemic that caused poverty, mental stress, addiction, and homelessness will go to fund law enforcement activities and increased surveillance of and patrols in struggling neighborhoods. But here we are, and both of these ARPA commitments were made by Mayor Kraham:

$1,000,000 to fund a variety of crime prevention and law enforcement activities. According to the Mayor's own media release and the City's report to the U.S Treasury, these funds will go to pre-existing programs, such as bike patrols and neighborhood watch groups, and be used to purchase more license plate readers and cameras to surveill (and overpolice) high crime areas. It appears these funds will also cover staffing costs at the new Southern Tier Crime Analysis Center, which now occupies the old fire garage in City Hall. Why did we build a state-of-the-art Crime Analysis Center if it needs once-in-a-lifetime recovery funds to help pay for annual operating costs, like staff?
$363,000 was requested by Mayor Kraham in December 2022 to provide police officers a "retention incentive" because apparently the morale in the department remains low and vacancies continue to mount. During his presentation to City Council, Mayor Kraham provided no details about how the incentive would work. It is not clear if the incentive is being paid to all officers evenly, whether it requires them to remain with the police department for part or most of the 2023 year, or whether the incentive will be “clawed back” if the officer leaves sooner. Mayor Kraham did explain to Council that his retention plan also includes allowing officers to grow beards and get tattoos (read more here).
$267,160 was used in the City's 2023 Budget to cover salary and benefits of three firefighters and, according to a note in the approved budget, "police grant share" (unclear what this means).

#7: Youth: $1,500,000

There's no question youth have been negatively impacted by the pandemic: whether from months of quarantines and lost social contact, or the disruption of education and dependence on remote learning. Former Mayor Rich David committed $29 million of recovery funds in six months before leaving office to run for state senator but not one penny ended up helping youth. Mayor Kraham has been better (though the bar was really low) with two commitments to youth:

Committed $1,000,000 to a Youth Recovery Fund, which according to Mayor Kraham will be managed by the Community Foundation and awards made through a competitive process.
Committed $500,000 to the YWCA's $24 million project by Columbus Park that involves the former Urban League building and adjacent properties. The project will result in affordable housing and a child care facility.

#8: Broadband: $1,000,000

As mentioned above, ARPA funds can be used for three specific infrastructure categories: water, sewer, and broadband. But "broadband" was included  as an eligible expense in order to help the many rural or tibal communities that still do not have fast interest service--let alone any internet service. Why the heck is Binghamton spending $1,000,000 on broadband when we have MORE high-speed internet providers entering our market? We're not tech wizards, so we might be missing something (like, is this public broadband that will offer low-income residents free or significantly discounted internet service?), but this certainly is a puzzling decision for unprecedented, flexible recovery funds. 

#9: ADMIN / IT: $715,500

Former Mayor Rich David allocated $20,000 to pay for the accounting firm that helped him understand how he can legally "launder" more recovery funds through the general fund so he could use it however he wished. Mayor Kraham committed $695,500 of ARPA funds to cover IT upgrades at City Hall. Are you noticing a pattern as you read through this list of uninspiring decisions? Unprecedented pandemic recovery funds are being used to cover routine operating costs or move forward overdue capital projects. See #10 for more of the same.

#10: Code / demolition: $698,770

Kraham has made a couple more decisions under this category that involve using ARPA funds to pay for expenses that the City has typically covered year in and year out:

$448,770 to fund staff related to enforcing housing and building codes: one attorney, one inspector, and parks laborers who mow lawns when private owners refuse to respond to code violations. If Mayor Kraham wants to "be tough on slumlords," then he should fund it with local tax dollars--not pandemic recovery funds. Even worse, while the intentions might be admirable, this is a seriously misguided approach--largely because it doesn't work. See why, here.
$250,000 committed for demolitions, which seems odd. Every year for decades, the City has used its annual Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department to fund demolition. New York also put a whopping $300 million of new spending in the 2022/2023 budget for communities who want to address vacant and blighted buildings ($250 M for Restore NY, and another $50 M for land banks). Why spend once-in-a-lifetime recovery funds to demolish blighted properties when multiple funding sources are available to carry out this activity?

binghamton spending through Aug 2023

#1. Lost revenue, general fund: $13,959,095

#2. Water and Sewer infrastructure: $10,800,000

#3. Affordable housing: $6,000,000

#4: bonus pay for essential workers: $2,313,372

#5: Fix public buildings: $1,838,631

#6: Public Safety: $1,630,160

#7: Youth: $1,500,000

#8: Broadband: $1,000,000

#9: ADMIN / IT: $715,500

#10: Code / demolition: $698,770