Time is running out for local governments struggling to use billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid.

The Phoenix suburb of Gilbert doesn’t seem to have done much with the $24 million it received in federal pandemic aid.

The site where he plans to spend most of the money on a crime victims center remains a vacant piece of land. And only a quarter of the funds are earmarked for projects, according to the latest federal data. But city officials say contracts to spend the rest should be signed soon.

For Gilbert and thousands of other local governments across the U.S., it’s time to use their share of the $350 billion in COVID-19 relief funds approved by Congress and President Joe Biden in 2021. Governments must commit all of their Funds from the American Rescue Plan for specific projects until the end of this year or return the rest to the U.S. Treasury.

About 80% of all funds had been committed by March, according to the latest figures reported to the Treasury by more than 26,500 local, state and territory governments. That is just in time to finish on time.

But some governments clearly have a lot more work to do than others.

About one in five governments reported committing to less than half of their funds in the spring, according to an Associated Press analysis, and about 3,500 pledged less than 25%. That includes 2,260 governments that reported no projects, which doesn’t make it clear whether they had any plans for the money. Some may have already used the money, but failed to describe the purpose to the federal government.

The Treasury Department said it is conducting extensive efforts to help communities understand reporting requirements.

From the very beginning, the American Rescue Plan he was met with criticism from some Republicans and government watchdog groups for authorizing unnecessary and excessive spending, including things barely related to the coronavirus pandemic. But some state and local officials say the funding has allowed them to take on long-awaited projects they otherwise couldn’t afford.

Gilbert officials have decided to spend nearly all of its American Rescue Plan funds on one project — a $43 million facility where victims of sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence can undergo forensic examinations and interviews needed for prosecution, as well as receive counseling and treatment services. The government identified the need for the facility several years before the pandemic but had no source of funding. The federal money will cover a little more than half of the cost, with the rest coming from Gilbert’s general fund.

The goal is to provide “a one-stop shop where a survivor of interpersonal violence can come and have a really safe and healing journey,” said Assistant City Manager Leah Rhineheimer. It’s “one of the most significant projects the city could have undertaken.”

City officials hope to award a construction contract in the fall — which would meet the Treasury’s requirement to allocate the money by the end of the year — although actual construction won’t start until next year, said Police Chief Gilbert Michael Soelberg.

Under Treasury rules, the commitment generally requires the government to place an order for services or property, enter into a contract or make a grant to another entity. Governments that meet the commitment deadline face a second deadline to finish spending the funds by the end of 2026.

Other local officials interviewed by the AP described a mix of reasons for not reporting that they had pledged much of their funds. Some said they did not feel they needed to detail how the money was used because they classified it as a substitute lost local revenue during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Others described the challenges of figuring out what to do about it.

“There’s no question that some of this money was unnecessary and is being spent inappropriately,” said Tom Schatz, president of the Washington-based nonprofit Citizens Against Government Waste.

The Detroit suburb of Dearborn Heights, which received more than $24 million, listed just one liability in its spring fiscal report — about $79,000 for administrative costs associated with selecting and implementing federally funded projects.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi said the federal funds arrived shortly after he took office, making it difficult to simultaneously “understand what the city needs” and assemble the staff to administer them. The city plans to allocate the money for projects related to stormwater, wastewater and water, among other things, and most of it should be obligated soon, Bazzi said.

Progress on the work has been delayed because “we had to go through a tedious process” before the projects could be put out to tender, he said.

As the federal deadline approaches, some states and local governments are developing backup plans to make sure all the money is used.

This spring, Missouri told the Treasury it had obligated 99% of its nearly $2.7 billion allocation. But some projects have fallen through or seem unlikely to need full funding.

So lawmakers and Republican Gov. Mike Parson approved a revised spending plan that eliminated $49 million for COVID-19 response efforts and $16 million to remodel an old mental health facility into a sex offender rehabilitation program, among other things. Those funds were reallocated to dozens of new projects, including an engineering college building and a health care worker training program.

The Missouri Legislature also budgeted $150 million in American Rescue Plan funds for K-12 public schools as a fallback option if other projects don’t get off the ground. Several lawmakers from the conservative Freedom Caucus voted against it, suggesting the federal pandemic aid was increasing the federal debt and inflation.

“I wouldn’t mind if we had to give it back,” Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told the AP. “At least we could hold our heads high and say we didn’t contribute to the financial collapse of the U.S. dollar.”

Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough, a Republican, said lawmakers do not have to approve the federal funds to use them anyway.

“My view is that once we achieve that, we should invest in our communities and in our future workforce,” Hough said.

Faced with the prospect of Connecticut missing out on some of its $2.8 billion American Rescue Plan, State General Assembly this year, $365 million was reallocated for new purposes. The bill also laid out a contingency plan, directing Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to reallocate any funds that are not expected to be obligated by Oct. 15 to instead go toward budget shortfalls and higher education.

The city of New Orleans said it had committed to using 55% of the $387.5 million in federal funding this spring. But it has moved quickly to use the money. As of September, 86% had been committed, according to Gilbert Montano, New Orleans’ chief administrative officer. Over the summer, the City Council shifted pandemic relief funds away from several projects that were struggling to meet deadlines to instead fund homeless shelters and clean up illegal dumps. Other slower-moving projects are on a watchlist for potential reallocation before the end of the year.

“We won’t give any money away,” Montano said. “The need is too great.”

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Associated Press writer Kavish Harjai contributed to this report.