$16M in ARP funds to buy GovGuam properties, total now falls below $200M-mark
Some $16 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds under Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero's control have been recently allocated to buy government of Guam properties, including $11 million for a new hospital property in Mangilao, $3 million for the Archdiocese of Agana's chancery property, and $2.07 million for "future" property acquisition.
These are based on Adelup's latest ARP funding status report to senators, as of Oct. 31, 2024.
The report shows $11 million was allocated for "new hospital property acquisition" through the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority, along with $110,000 for "GHURA health care facilities projects."
The governor earlier said some 48 acres of Mangilao property for the new Guam Memorial Hospital will be purchased under probate from the estate of Catalina Eclavea Camacho for $3.5 million.
It's not clear as of press time how the remaining $7.5 million of the $11 million in allocated ARP funds for GHURA will be used.
Moreover, Adelup allocated a separate $11.5 million for a "hospital step down facility."
These new allocations further reduced to $91.223 million-plus the ARP funds allocated for a new GMH as of Oct. 31, down by nearly $33 million from $124 million as of Sept. 30.
In 2021, the governor initially allocated $300 million in ARP funds for a new GMH, which is estimated to cost about $1 billion to build.
Buying church property
Adelup received approval for federal grant funding to buy the Catholic Church's chancery property in Agana Heights but is using ARP funds for now, and then reimburse the amount later.
The archdiocese accepted GovGuam's $2.38 million offer and the expected closing of escrow is on Dec. 12.
Besides the chancery property, which Adelup said it would use to provide services for persons with disabilities and for community outreach programs, the archdiocese has also been trying to sell dozens of properties to pay off nearly 300 clearly sex abuse claims under a court-approved bankruptcy process.
It's not clear as of press time whether GovGuam will also use $2.07 million in separate ARP funds set aside for "property acquisition for future government services" for other archdiocese properties.
The governor has until Dec. 31, 2026 — or days before her second term in office ends — to spend all the remaining or unspent ARP funds, or they get returned to the federal government.
As of Oct. 31, the total unspent ARP funds under the governor's purview totaled over $193.8 million.
While the governor has already obligated or allocated the remaining funds ahead of the Dec. 31, 2024 deadline to do so, many of these allocations are not set in stone.
The governor continues to reallocate ARP funds to where her administration deems necessary. An example is her ever-changing allocation of ARP funds for a new GMH.
Since 2021, Adelup has received more than $618.857 million in ARP funds.
Of this amount, $$425 million's already been spent and encumbered, while $193.807 million-plus remains available, based on the latest report of the Bureau of Budget and Management Research to senators.
The ARP funds under the governor's purview are on top of other federal funds such as the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance that Guam got since 2020 to help it respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of these funds under the governor's control have gone to direct pandemic financial aid to GovGuam agencies, families, businesses, payments for quarantine and isolation hotels, and aid to GMH and private health care facilities.
But Sen. Telo Taitague and others have continued to point out that multiple expenditures have not been clearly connected to the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, including buying TVs, sofas, work boots, and paying for employee drug testing.
These are some of the unspent but already allocated ARP funds, which are not set in stone, as of Oct. 31:
