YOUNGSTOWN — One of the first uses for the $82,775,370 the city is receiving from the federal American Rescue Plan will be to make up income tax revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Finance Director Kyle Miasek said Friday that replenishing the tax revenue in the general fund is a “first priority.”

He spoke during a discussion with local business officials about the federal COVID-19 relief funding.

The city administration met Thursday and Friday with various groups at the downtown DoubleTree by Hilton hotel ballroom as part of a summit to discuss the funding. Community meetings on all sides of the city with residents are expected in July.

Miasek first discussed using money from the federal funding to make up lost income tax revenue Thursday, but was more definitive Friday that it’s a priority.

The money would be used for capital equipment purchases “to make an impact in the community,” he said. He specifically mentioned the street, and parks and recreation departments Friday.

The plan permits communities to use American Rescue Plan to replenish money lost during the pandemic.

The city’s annual income tax went from $47,133,500 in 2019 to $44,404,600 in 2020 and is projected to end this year at $43,601,000.

Also, Hunter Morrison, the city’s planning consultant, said Friday that Youngstown officials were working with the Western Reserve Transit Authority on a “transit analysis.” Improving transit accessibility has been discussed as a use for the money since the ARP bill passed in March.

Charlie Staples, owner of Charlie Staples Bar-B-Que restaurant on the corner of West Rayen and Belmont avenues, said he wants to see attention paid to the Belmont Avenue corridor

“The sewer lines are too small and old,” he said. “We have flooding issues.”

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said corridors and infrastructure lines are going to be focuses of the money spent by the city.

Other priorities being considered by the city include eliminating 500 blighted properties, improving housing quality, developing a youth employment program, investing in parks, community policing and bringing in a full-scale grocery store.

The $82,775,370 is being paid in two installments. The first is coming later this month and the second arrives in May 2022.

The city has to spend the money by Dec. 31, 2024.

The money comes from a $1.9 trillion federal bill passed in March with $350 billion for state and local governments. Of that amount, $10.66 billion is coming to Ohio.

dskolnick@vindy.com