ARPA Updates

In 2021, in an effort to help Americans respond to and recover from the effects of Covid-19, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to allocate funds to meet the needs of local units of government. The US Department of Treasury oversaw the America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), ensuring that money was utilized to make investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, along with other capital projects within communities. Dispersed and managed by the State of Michigan, money was apportioned based on population. Hartland Township received 1.5 million dollars and was granted flexibility in choosing how they would spend the funds within the provided guidelines.

With a to-do list in hand, our Board of Trustees got busy triaging a list of community projects that fit the ARPA guidelines and would have the most beneficial impact on the residents of Hartland Township.  As the process began, there were many projects that came to mind to tackle as an effort was made to diversify funds, but there was also one key project that was made possible by the use of this large sum of up-front capital.

The East Extension of our Water Main was completed in 2023 with money budgeted from ARPA funds. This colossal undertaking had been talked about at Board Meetings for many years and was finally made possible without an increase in payment to customers on the Water System. ARPA funds were also utilized on many smaller projects around town including Heritage Park irrigation repairs, the clearing of land for our Settler’s Park picnic area, investments and updates to our HERO Teen Center, and many other maintenance tasks.

With resources still available, and to expand the reach of community benefits, the Township Administration developed a program which provided non-profit community civic organizations the opportunity to request funding for community projects offering public benefit. Over the following weeks, we will be highlighting many of these updates around town, completed by various community organizations.  

We are so proud of how this collaboration has involved and empowered groups around Hartland. In the spirit of transparency and collaborative achievement, we are pleased to share this series of community ARPA updates!