American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), a $1.9T economic stimulus package aimed to help the country’s economy return to pre-COVID strength. Within the ARPA, the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund provides $350B for states, municipalities, counties, tribes, and territories, including $130B for local governments split evenly between municipalities and counties.

In Delaware, direct recipients are the State, counties and metro cities of Wilmington and Dover.  The other 55 towns and cities are classified by the U. S. Treasury as non-entitlement unit (NEU) municipalities. NEU municipal funding allocations will be sent from the Federal government to the Delaware Office of the State Treasurer (OST) for distribution to these municipalities. On June 10, 2021, DLLG, OST, and IPA hosted a “How to Get Your American Rescue Plan Funds” Webinar (June 10, 2021). View the Link to Webinar recording: (https://bit.ly/ARPAwebinar6_10_21).

 

Use of Local Fiscal Recovery Funds

According to the U.S. Treasury, the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provide eligible local governments with a substantial infusion of resources to meet pandemic response needs and rebuild a stronger, and more equitable economy as the country recovers. Recipients may use these funds to:

• Support public health expenditures, by, for example, funding COVID-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, and certain public health and safety staff
• Address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency, including economic harms to workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries, and the public sector
• Replace lost public sector revenue, using this funding to provide government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue experienced due to the pandemic
• Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical infrastructure sectors
• Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and to expand access to broadband internet

Within these overall categories, recipients have broad flexibility to decide how best to use this funding to meet the needs of their communities. For more information and guidance about allowable uses of Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and reporting requirements, please see U.S. Treasury’s website.