Despite passing the Dec. 31 deadline for obligating federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, the Select Board allocated the town of Dartmouth’s remaining $1,035,000 to two final projects on Monday, Jan. 6.

The two projects were already in queue for funding and meet federal obligation requirements under ARPA, which should qualify the projects for ARPA funding, despite the deadline passing, said Chris Vitale, interim co-town administrator.

“This would be for projects that were either through capital or were already on the ARPA list but they needed a little bit more funds to get over the finish line,” Vitale added.

The American Rescue Plan Act was created in 2021 to help towns recover from the covid pandemic. At that time, Dartmouth received just under $5 million, which needed to be allocated by Dec. 31, 2024 and used by the end of 2026.

$100,000 that was initially set aside for the town’s comprehensive emergency management plan was re-allocated to the town’s Classification and Compensation study, Vitale said.

This study is an assessment of Dartmouth’s municipal positions to ultimately ensure the positions are equitable and competitive.

Up to $935,000 was also allocated to expenditures that were previously funded through the capital improvement plan.

During the Fall Town Meeting, the Department of Public Works proposed several projects that moved forward with the intention of using capital funds. As a way to use the remaining ARPA funds, Vitale proposed returning the capital funds to free cash for future projects and instead fund the public works’ projects through ARPA.

Free cash refers to a town’s unrestricted funds that are available for expenses such as capital projects.

“Those are the last couple changes that we are hoping for and then our ARPA will be done,” Vitale said.

The Select Board unanimously approved both projects.