Animal Shelter Cattery Updates

Program Description

The Animal Shelter Cattery is the result of a several yearlong grass roots campaign.  Area animal lovers, concerned that the City Animal Shelter was almost always at or over its Cat housing capacity, raised $460 thousand to build a new area 
specifically designed for housing felines looking for forever homes.  Construction has since been completed.  However, due to unanticipated expenses and difficulties incurred during construction, the Cattery is not currently operating at full capacity.  An estimated investment of $35,600.00 will provide the Animal Shelter with the final equipment and installations needed to make the Cattery a more efficient element of Shelter Operations.

Why this matters

Great Falls and area residents contributed nearly half a million dollars to the design and construction of this project.  The Cattery is the physical representation of years of effort undertaken by local volunteers, fund raisers, and animal lovers.  

How is this eligible?

The United States Department of the Treasury allows local governments that lost revenue (i.e. lost taxes, utility payments, etc.) during the COVID-19 pandemic to use ARPA funds, up to the amount of revenue lost, for "government services".  This category is extremely discretionary and allows for funds to be used for any service traditionally provided by a government.  Treasury’s Final Rule allowed local governments to claim a standard allowance of $10 million in lost revenue.  The City of Great Falls (which did not experience financial losses during the pandemic) took this standard allowance and may spend up to $10 million of its total allocation to pay for its traditional government services.