Escambia County’s 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 1

Escambia County

2021 Recovery Plan

Table of Contents

General Overview........................................................................................................................2

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................2

Uses of Funds ...........................................................................................................................2

Promoting Equitable Outcomes.................................................................................................3

Community Engagement...........................................................................................................3

Labor Practices .........................................................................................................................4

Use of Evidence ........................................................................................................................4

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category ............................................................................4

Project Inventory.........................................................................................................................4

Projects ....................................................................................................................................4

Performance Report ..................................................................................................................5

Ineligible Activities: Tax Offset Provision ...............................................................................5
Escambia County’s 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 2

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Executive Summary 

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) includes $61.7 Million in direct local recovery assistance for 

Escambia County. The first half of the county’s award has been received totaling $30.9 million. 

The second half will be comparable and will arrive approximately one year after the first 

payment.

Escambia County’s plan will follow the U.S Treasury Departments Interim Final ARP Rule 

including allocating all funds prior to Dec. 31, 2024 and completing all expenditures by Dec. 31, 

2026 as required.

While we are still in the early program development stages, we recognize the impact that the 

COVID-19 pandemic has had on our community and are committed to making investments for 

economic recovery and rebuilding. 

Uses of Funds 

Escambia County is gathering public input and assessing county needs to prioritize, design, and 

implement the American Rescue Plan funds. We want to ensure that our programs support our 

community and citizens and that our programs promote the below approved expenditure 

categories:

a. Public Health

b. Negative Economic Impacts

c. Services to Disproportionately Impacted Communities 

d. Premium Pay 

e. Water, Sewer and Broadband infrastructure 

f. Revenue Replacement

To help alleviate those most impacted by COVID-19, Escambia County has expended funding 

to provide direct housing assistance for households in arrears with their rent, utilities, and 

mortgage to help prevent evictions and foreclosures. To date, the county has expended 

$1,460,872 in Coronavirus Relief Funds to assist with rent, mortgage, and utility assistance. 

Additional funding has been set aside for mortgage assistance under the Community 

Development Block Grant-CV (CDBG-CV) program. Escambia County has received an 

allocation of $9,611,771 in Emergency Rental Assistance funds and another allocation of 

$7,605,344 in Emergency Rental Assistance 2 funds. These resources are being utilized to 

assist vulnerable income eligible citizens in our community to mitigate the negative economic 

impacts associated with the pandemic.

The county is making plans related to the allocation of HOME-American Rescue Plan funds to 

be received through HUD to provide housing and other services directly to homeless persons. 

Funds will be distributed in coordination with other local jurisdictions, the local homeless 

Continuum of Care and local public housing agencies. County staff serve on the local Homeless 

Task Force which is providing local input on prioritization of funding for homeless activities.
Escambia County’s 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 3

CDBG-CV funds are providing legal aid services to help prevent eviction, bankruptcies and 

foreclosure to income eligible households that have been impacted by COVID-19. Additional 

CDBG-CV funding has been provided to the local Council on Aging to assist with public health 

response to the elderly in our community, including PPE and food programs for those that are 

food insecure at this time.

Promoting Equitable Outcomes 

Escambia County is dedicated to making a considerable effort to promote equitable outcomes 

during program design, planning and implementation.

While we are in the early stages of program development, we have examined our county to 

identify our underserved citizens and ensure complete inclusion.

We are aware that although we have a website and will be providing a community input survey 

online, more will need to be done to ensure equitable outcomes. We have made additional 

plans to ensure that both the information and the surveys are distributed at our community 

centers and libraries to ensure that each voice heard.

Stormwater and other clean water infrastructure projects will be prioritized in disadvantaged 

communities. Many stormwater projects identified in the 2015 Stormwater Advisory Team 

Recommendation Report are in low-income neighborhoods. The impacts of flooding and old and 

aging infrastructure on economically disadvantaged residents cause financial and emotional 

stress on these residents. The ability to repair or rebuild personal property is limited for cost 

burdened households in these target areas. Improvements to the infrastructure will provide longterm resiliency for at-risk households.

As we move through the process of allocating funds, we will continue to take the steps 

necessary to ensure Escambia county is making every effort to include all our citizens.

Community Engagement 

While Escambia County is in the early stages of program development, we are taking the time 

to ensure we capture diverse feedback from citizens, community partners and constituents.

We have developed a web page dedicated to the American Rescue Plan to ensure 

transparency and communication with the public.

To engage the community, Escambia County is working to develop and launch an ARP Survey 

to collect and review public input on citizen priorities for economic recovery.

A presentation regarding the ARP was made to the Board of County Commissioners at its public 

Committee of the Whole meeting on June 10, 2021. We will continue to present at future Board 

Meetings and Committee of the Whole workshops which are advertised and the community 

welcome to attend.

In addition to the website and online survey we will print and deliver hard copies of all ARP 

information and the survey to the local community centers and libraries to ensure we are serving 

all citizens.
Escambia County’s 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 4

Labor Practices 

At this time Escambia County has completed one project that did not require any additional 

workforce practices; however, we will explore this as we develop and implement additional 

projects.

For infrastructure projects, the county will propose use of prevailing wage requirements in its 

contracts.

Use of Evidence 

At this time Escambia County has completed one project that did not require evidence-based 

interventions; however, we will explore this as we develop and implement additional projects. 

For Project 001 in the Expenditure Category: Negative Economic Impacts we utilized the “Loss 

of Revenue Calculations”

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category 

Category

Cumulative 

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent since last 

Recovery Plan

2.11 Aid to Tourism, Travel or Hospitality $350,000 $350,000 

Project Inventory 

Project: Pensacola Bay Center – Lost Revenue

Project Number: 001

Funding amount: $350,000

Project Expenditure Category: Negative Economic Impacts

Project overview

• Provided the Pensacola Bay Center with an increase to the fiscal Year 2021 Budget in 

the amount of $350,000 for lost revenue in 2020.

Use of Evidence

• The Pensacola Bay Center is an indoor arena located in Pensacola FL. It is owned by 

Escambia County and operated by ASM Global. The Bay Center has capacity of 8,049 

for hockey games and as much as 10,000 for non-hockey events. During the 

Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 the Pensacola Bay Center lost substantial revenue due 

to canceled games and events.

• We have allocated the Pensacola Bay Center $350,000 in the Expenditure Category 

Negative Economic Impacts although their Revenue Loss was much larger:

• 2019 Revenue = $6,023,822.57

• 2020 Projected Revenue based on 4.10% growth = $6,270,799.30
Escambia County’s 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 5

• 2020 Actual Revenue = $2,064,747.36

• Lost Revenue in 2020 = $4,206,051.94 

Performance Report 

Currently Escambia County is still researching, analyzing, and forming our major SLFRF 

funded projects. During this development we will include key performance indicators for

output and outcome measures.

Ineligible Activities: Tax Offset Provision (States and territories only) 

Escambia County has not had a reduction in tax revenue resulting from “a change in law, 

regulation or administrative interpretation.”