Notice
What the American Rescue Plan Means for Local Governments
March 31st, 2021The latest COVID-19 relief package – The American Rescue Plan – provides $1.9 trillion in mandatory funding, program changes, and tax policies aimed at mitigating the continuing effects of the pandemic.
New! Watch a webinar, presented by the PA State Association of Boroughs, to learn more about the American Rescue Plan. (Posted 3/31/21)
The bill provides $130.2 bill to local governments in the U.S. including:
- $65.1 billion for counties;
- $45.6 billion for entitlement communities; and
- $19.5 billion for towns with fewer than 50,000 people.
- $7.2 billion for state government;
- $2.8 billion for counties;
- $2.3 billion for entitlement communities;
- $936 million for non-entitlement communities; and
- $279 million for Coronavirus Capital Projects
Funds can be used for:
- Responding to the COVID-19 emergency and address its economic effects, including through aid to households, small businesses, nonprofits, and industries such as tourism and hospitality.
- Providing premium pay to essential employees or grants to their employers. Premium pay couldn’t exceed $13 per hour or $25,000 per worker.
- Providing government services affected by a revenue reduction resulting from COVID-19.
- Making investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.
Direct payments will be made in two disbursements – 1st within 60 days of enactment and the 2nd, one year later.
States have 30 days to distribute payments to smaller non-entitlement municipalities that do not
receive direct allocations from the federal government.
Payments to non-entitlement municipalities are capped at 75 percent of their most recent budget as of January 27, 2020.
A full summary of the bill is available here from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
BEST WEBSITE