Pittsburgh City Controller's office launches site to track American Rescue Plan spending

Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb’s office has launched a webpage where people can track how the city is spending its American Rescue Plan money.

The American Rescue Plan Trust Fund Monitoring Page is part of the website Fiscal Focus Pittsburgh, which the Controller’s Office has maintained since 2018. The site provides interactive charts, graphs and tables on the city’s financial information.

“These (American Rescue Plan) funds have been a lifeline for local government across the country,” Lamb said. “This is especially true in Pittsburgh, where the covid-19 pandemic resulted in a $50 million deficit in 2020 alone.”

In addition to tracking spending, the webpage also will centralize all American Rescue Plan Trust Fund contracts and legislation that authorizes spending.

The latter half of Pittsburgh’s $335 million in American Rescue Plan funding is expected in May, Lamb’s office said.

“It was Congress’s intent that all municipalities receiving these funds commit to transparency in how they’re spent. This page ensures that our residents know exactly when and how the city is allocating them,” Lamb said.