YOUNGSTOWN — City council on Wednesday will consider allocating $5.4 million in American Rescue Plan spending, including $4.02 million for more park improvements and $882,762 to give 10% “retention bonuses” for every city police officer and emergency 911 dispatcher.

The $4.02 million will be spent on improvements to various parks throughout the city.

It is the final part of a $10.5 million ARP allocation city council authorized in June 2022 for the park system.

Council approved spending $5.97 million on Oct. 2 on numerous parks throughout the city using ARP dollars. The city has awarded most of the contracts with the bids coming in about $500,000 less than allocated. That freed up additional ARP money for other park work.

Council will vote Wednesday to increase the $800,000 ARP allocation for design contracts for the park projects to $859,000.

City council also will consider Wednesday giving 10% “retention bonuses” to each police officer and emergency 911 dispatcher with unused funds from an ARP grant.

The city received a $1,722,762 ARP grant to hire and retain police officers.

Legislation sponsored by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said the city was “only able to utilize about $840,000 for staffing and recruitment.”

The remaining $882,762 will be used for 10% police officer and dispatcher bonuses.

The legislation states the federal grant can’t be spent by the city to make pension payments so the city will be responsible for the officers’ 19.5% pension contribution.

While the city doesn’t pay those pension contributions for emergency 911 dispatchers, it does for police officers and an overwhelming percentage of the funding is for officers. Getting the grant will cost the city about $150,000 in pension pickups.

With city council having to allocate all of its ARP dollars by the end of the year, there are a number of other pieces of legislation to spend that money or increase that funding for already approved projects.

The city received $82.7 million in ARP funds with about a few hundred thousand dollars not yet dedicated.

Among the items to be considered Wednesday by council for new ARP projects are: $55,000 from Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, for the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past program; $20,000 from Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, for Economic Action Group to buy a utility task vehicle for neighborhood cleanups and other related activities in his ward; and $50,000 from Ray for Youngstown Cityscape to renovate the greenhouse and single-family unit at Briel’s location — a former flower shop it purchased — to create retail space, education and event space, a demonstration kitchen and community garden resource center.

City council agreed in April 2022 to give $2 million in ARP funding to each of its seven members, for a total of $14 million.

“We were right to do what we did with the $2 million per ward,” said Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward. “I can see the impact here. This is the way it needed to be spent.”

Also on council’s agenda are three items to increase ARP spending for council projects.

They are:

l Going from $150,000 to $389,000 for improvements to Ohio Urban Renaissance, which helps at-risk and underserved youths, at 421 North Ave. The legislation is sponsored by Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, and is specifically to renovate the agency’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

l Increasing from $50,000 to $70,000 a program to provide security lights in the 6th Ward for seniors and businesses. The legislation was sponsored by Davis.

l Davis also is sponsoring legislation to go from $75,000 to $125,000 to remove trees on vacant lots next to occupied homes in her ward.

Council also will consider legislation Wednesday to rescind an ordinance passed May 15 to spend $28,000 in ARP funds for a storage unit and garage building at the Henry Stambaugh Golf Course.