DATE: October 20, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer
SUBJECT: Final Amendment to American Rescue Plan Act - State Local Fiscal
Recovery Funds, Expenditure Plan
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Approve proposed Amendments to the County of Fresno’s American Rescue Plan Act - State Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (ARPA-SLFRF) expenditure plan by reassigning funding availability identified under various County Department Programs ($1,044,358) and Subrecipient Programs ($1,250,352) for a total of $2,294,710 in cost savings to instead fund:
a. Department of Human Resources (HR) Congregate Setting Retention Payments (CSRP) program up to $1,780,710, which will increase funding support in this program from $14,430,002 to $16,210,712.
b. County Administrative Office, Administration of ARPA-SLFRF Program up to $514,000, which will increase funding support from $2,500,000 to $3,014,000, and will extend the administrative timeline from December 31, 2026, to April 30, 2027, to include the administrative closeout period.
2. Approve and authorize the Clerk of the Board to Execute Budget Transfer No. 84 transferring $1,250,352 from account 7845 (Support of Organizations) to account 7957 (Operating Transfers Out).
3. Approve and authorize the County Administrative Officer (CAO) to execute, subject to the review and approval of County Counsel as to legal form and the Auditor-Controller/Treasure-Tax Collector as to accounting form, any documents necessary to address unforeseen funding availability after October 20, 2026, for the timely reassignment of funds in advance of Treasury’s final expenditure deadline of December 31, 2026; any documents so executed will be brought to your Board for ratification at the next available Board date.
REPORT
The United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) requires that all recipients of ARPA-SLFRF fully expend their award by December 31, 2026. Treasury only permits recipients to continue spending funds after that date for administrative closeout costs, which may be incurred through the due date of the final expenditure report, April 30, 2027. Other than such administrative closeout costs, recipients may not continue to expend SLFRF beyond December 31, 2026. Any ARPA-SLFRF unspent after the expenditure deadline must be returned to Treasury.
Approval of the first recommended action will amend the County’s ARPA-SLFRF expenditure plan and reallocate a total of $2,294,710, consisting of cost savings under department and subrecipient programs to support the continued implementation of HR’s CSRP program and the Administration of the ARPA-SLFRF Program. Approval of the first recommended action, subsection b, will also extend the timeline for Administration of the ARPA-SLFRF through April 30, 2027, to align with Treasury’s guidance for the use of SLFRF to cover administrative closeout costs.
Approval of the second recommended action will authorize the Clerk of the Board to execute the budget transfer, which will reassign $1,250,352 in funding availability in the Subrecipient Program and reassign these funds to become available for department operating transfers out. Approval of the third recommended action will authorize the CAO to execute, subject to the review and approval of County Counsel as to legal form and the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector as to accounting form, any documents necessary to address unforeseen funding availability after October 20, 2026, for the timely reassignment of SLFRF in advance of Treasury’s December 31, 2026, expenditure deadline. Any documents so executed will be brought to your Board for ratification at the next available Board date. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If your Board does not approve the recommended actions, the ARPA-SLFRF expenditure plan will continue to show maximum allocations for programs with identified cost savings, and funding availability will not be reallocated to the CSRP program or the Administration of the ARPA-SLFRF. The CAO, in conjunction with County Counsel, and ACTTC’s Office, would not have the ability after today’s meeting to expeditiously reallocate any unforeseen funding availability to other programs in the County’s expenditure plan that can expend these funds by Treasury’s December 31, 2026, deadline. If this were to happen, any final available funding changes would need to come before your Board for consideration and approval by December 8, 2026, your Board’s last scheduled meeting of the year. Additionally, the expenditure plan would maintain December 31, 2026, as the end date to use SLFRF for the Administration of the ARPA-SLFRF program. Your Board may also choose to approve one or more of the recommended action items.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Appropriations for the awarded ARPA-SLFRF programs are included in the FY 2026-27 Adopted Budget for Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Org. 1033 - Disaster Claiming, Fund 0026, Subclass 91021, Account 7957. Approval of the first recommended action will reallocate the identified funding availability and increase funding support for the CSRP program and Administration of the ARPA-SLFRF Program, as shown in Attachment A. Approval of the second recommended action will authorize the Clerk of the Board to execute the budget transfer, which will reassign $1,250,352 in funding availability identified in account 7845 (support of organizations) to account 7957 (operating transfers out).
DISCUSSION:
Treasury’s Final Rule requires each ARPA-SLFRF recipient to expend their award on eligible uses by the end of the ARPA-SLFRF period of performance, December 31, 2026. To meet Treasury’s expenditure deadline, in 2025 the CAO’s Office established the June 30, 2026, deadline for all programs to submit their claims for eligible ARPA-SLFRF expenditures.
After the SLFRF obligation deadline of December 31, 2024, Treasury’s guidance permits recipients to amend existing contracts after the obligation deadline, so long as the amended contract is within substantially the same scope and for substantially the same purpose as the original contract. Per Treasury’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ 17.16), if those requirements are met, SLFRF funds may be used to cover cost increases contained in the amended agreement.
Treasury’s Obligation IFR includes the ability for recipients to reclassify funds for excess funds that were obligated by the deadline but ultimately would not be expended on an eligible activity. For example, recipients may reclassify cost savings from an under-budget project to another eligible project under the SLFRF program rules, including the requirement that the recipient incurred the obligation by December 31, 2024, to expend funds on the activity.
On June 30, 2026, your Board received a progress report on the County’s ARPA-SLFRF Program which highlighted program achievements, challenges impacting the County’s ability to process timely claims, and discussed anticipated funds that would go unclaimed by June 30, 2026, County deadline. Following the presentation, your Board directed staff to initiate the formal amendment process for ARPA-SLFRF subrecipient and department programs and return to your Board by October 2026 with final recommendations to reallocated identified funding availability.
By July 6, 2026, staff completed the initial review of department and subrecipient claim submittals received by the June 30, 2026, deadline to gauge whether sufficient invoices were submitted to request the maximum compensation available for the awarded programs. The following will summarize program level savings identified after the June 30, 2026, expenditure deadline.
Department programs
The following County departments identified $1,044,358 in cost savings under their awarded ARPA-SLFRF programs consisting of: PWP’s Various Programs ($994,486), GSD’s Program Heating and Ventilation Improvements in Public Facilities ($29,905), DPH’s Rural Mobile Health ($5,165), and DBH’s Rural Outreach Services via Kings View ($14,802).
On July 14, 2026, the Board approved Amendment No. 1 to Interdepartmental Agreement 24-591 between the CAO and PWP for ARPA funding supporting PWP’s closeout of its awarded programs. The amendment updated program budgets, clarified deliverables, and authorized the redistribution of funding within PWP’s programs in preparation for the submission of final invoices to the ARPA Program. Since then, PWP represents that all major trade work for each awarded program has been completed and invoiced to the ARPA-SLFRF Program. Due to the complexity of these capital projects, the resulting cost savings are primarily attributed to fewer contractor change orders than anticipated, reduced contractor closeout costs, and salary savings within departmental personnel assigned to the programs. Total cost savings within PWP programs amount to $994,486. Cost savings by program are detailed in Attachment A of this Agenda Item.
On August 11, 2026, your Board approved Amendment No. 3 to Interdepartmental Agreement No. 24-577, between the General Services Department (GSD), Information Technology Services Department (ITSD), CAO, and PWP, which reassigned funding availability within GSD’s programs to help the department maximize their use for funds and confirmed the $29,905 in cost savings in the Heating and Ventilation Improvements in Public Facilities program. Both DPH and DBH verified to the CAO’s Office by June 30, 2026, that all identified invoices under their awarded programs were submitted to the ARPA-SLFRF program. DPH confirmed the $5,165 in cost savings under the Rural Mobile Health program, and DBH confirmed the $14,802 in cost savings under the Rural Outreach Services via Kings View.
Subrecipient programs
The June 30, 2026, ARPA progress report informed your Board that, at that time, there were 24 active subrecipient programs with approximately $7.3 million in remaining obligations. Since then, your Board has approved amendments to funding agreements with the remaining subrecipients to help them maximize their use of awarded funds and address the unclaimed portions of their awards by June 30, 2026.
Due to the complex nature of water infrastructure projects, your Board approved amendments to Subrecipient Agreement No. 22-171 with Malaga County Water District (Malaga CWD) and Subrecipient Agreement No. 22-225 with Riverdale Public Utility District (Riverdale PUD), which extended the June 30, 2026, expenditure deadline to a September 30, 2026, final submission deadline for those two projects.
By September 30, 2026, the Subrecipient Program’s cost savings amount to $1,250,352, consisting of savings from the following subrecipient agreements:
• Agreement No. 22-371, Biola Community Services District, ($580)
• Agreement No. 23-567, Westside Family Preservation Services Network, ($283,620)
• Agreement No. 22-224, Habitat for Humanity Fresno, Inc., ($14,341)
• Agreement No. 23-198, Laton Community Services District ($230,870)
• Agreement No. 23-355, Fresno Community Development Financial Institution DBA Access Plus Capital, ($21,731)
• Agreement No. 23-568, Valley Center for the Blind, ($6,303)
• Agreement No. 22-531, Fresno Metropolitan Ministry, ($21,022)
• Agreement No. 23-197, CASA of Fresno and Madera Counties, ($20,739)
• Agreement No. 23-493, Self-Help Enterprises, Lanare Community Center, ($120,316)
• Agreement No. 23-529, Poverello House, ($3)
After the September 30, 2026, final submission deadline specific to Riverdale PUD and Malaga CWD, the two subrecipients abandoned the following amounts:
• Agreement No. 22-225, Riverdale Public Utility District, ($355,421)
• Agreement No. 22-172, Malaga County Water District, ($175,405)
With your Board’s approval of the first recommended action, the ARPA-SLFRF expenditure plan will be amended to reallocate the identified $2,294,710 in total cost savings to increase funding support for the implementation of HR’s CSRP Program (up to $1,780,710) and the Administration of ARPA-SLFR Program (up to $514,000), as provided through Treasury’s expenditure deadline.
HR’s CSRP was created by your Board in 2022 to address the highest levels of employee departures and vacancy rates in positions that required individuals to work in congregate settings within the Probation Department (the JJC) and Sheriff’s Office (the Jail facilities). The CSRP program compensates eligible employees with bi-weekly retention payments ($150 per pay period) for individuals working in congregate settings who have an active payroll status and occupy a permanently allocated position within the Probation Department and Sheriff’s Office.
The Administration of ARPA-SLFRF Program is achieved through a multi-department effort consisting of staff from the County Administrative Office, County Counsel, and the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office. The program reimburses personnel and indirect costs for staff performing activities under the ARPA-SLFRF Program. The implementation of the County’s ARPA-SLFRF expenditure plan includes but is not limited to the following administrative activities: program oversight, fulfilling reporting requirements, subaward agreements and/or amendments, monitoring program activities, reviewing and processing payment requests, record retention, and maintaining compliance through the closeout of the award. Per Treasury’s guidance, recipients may use SLFRF to cover administrative closeout costs through the final project and expenditure report due date of April 30, 2027, (120 calendar days after the period of performance ends on December 31, 2026).
Approval of the second recommended action will authorize the Clerk of the Board to execute the corresponding budget transfer, which will reassign $1,250,352 in funding availability identified in the Subrecipient Program to become available for department operating transfer out.
Staff does anticipate additional funding availability to arise after today; however, anticipated amount should not exceed $200,000. In order to ensure the County meets the expenditure deadline, the approval of the third recommended action will authorize the CAO to execute, subject to the review and approval of County Counsel as to legal form and the Auditor-Controller/Treasure-Tax Collector as to accounting form, any documents deemed necessary to address and reassign unforeseen funding availability after October 20, 2026, to other programs in the County’s expenditure plan that meet the SLFRF program rules and can expend these funds by Treasury’s December 31, 2026, deadline. The goal of the CAO’s office is to ensure that all funds are appropriately spent in Fresno County consistent with ARPA requirements. Any documents so executed will be brought to your Board for ratification at the next available Board date.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI # 9, June 30, 2026
BAI # 37, August 19, 2025
BAI #33, December 17, 2024
BAI #25, May 21, 2024
BAI #50.1, June 18, 2024
BAI#41, April 25, 2023
BAI #9, November 8, 2022
BAI #7, June 21, 2022
BAI #3, February 1, 2022
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Attachment A - Revisions to Expenditure Plan
On file with Clerk - Budget Transfer No. 84
CAO ANALYST:
George Uc