ARPA Municipal Funding
American Rescue Plan Act Funding
CVRPC_VLCT ARPA Presentation_12-14-21
**NEW**:
- Treasury opened its Portal for reporting to NEUs on 12/14/21. Email notifications were sent to the people entered as contacts (“Authorized Representative” and “Secondary Contact”) during the ARPA certification process. The full text of the email can be found HERE.
- Treasury also issued new guidance for NEUs – NEU and Non-UGLGs Agreements and Supporting Documents User Guide. that contains information on using Treasury’s Portal to confirm their accounts, designate the reporting roles, and submit the required information, prior to the reporting that will be due by April 30,2022.
Congress directed nearly $200 million of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery funding directly to Vermont’s cities, towns, and villages. City councils and Selectboards will have discretion over how to spend their allocations.
The ARPA amounts for each CVRPC municipality can be found here: Local Fiscal Recovery Payments__NEU and County.
What Can My Municipality Spend ARPA Money On?
There are 4 areas that you can spend ARPA money on:
- Pandemic Response: To respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts (assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality)
- Workforce/Personnel: providing premium pay to eligible workers;
- Lost Revenue: For the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to the COVID–19 public health emergency relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year prior to the emergency
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- VLCT has produced a revenue loss calculator that uses the Department of the Treasury’s specific formula in the relevant Interim Final Rule. It is designed specifically for the many towns, cities, and villages throughout the state that use NEMRC. NEMRC is available to assist you in using this model should you have questions or get stuck.
4.Water, Sewer, Broadband Infrastructure: To make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure. Water and sewer projects must align with the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (CWSRF) or Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund (DRWSF)
What Should My Municipality Do Now?
- Be patient and methodical! No need to rush
- Review municipal priorities and programs: prioritize investments that will provide long-term economic and community development benefits
- Consult citizens
- Put together and send out an ARPA Priorities survey
- Form a municipal ARPA (sub)committee
- Hold an ARPA-specific public meeting
- Consider eligible uses and exclude ineligible uses
- Leverage other funding sources (such as DEC ARPA funding for water and wastewater projects) so you are spending ARPA money on what you can’t get anywhere else!
CVRPC is available to attend Selectboard meetings, facilitate a public meeting, or develop outreach materials like a survey. Additionally, if you would like to partner with your neighboring communities to make your funding go further, CVRPC can facilitate regional level investments.
–> Municipal ARPA Project Ideas 12-7-21
Reporting
- Treasury opened its Portal for reporting to NEUs on 12/14/21. Email notifications were sent to the people entered as contacts (“Authorized Representative” and “Secondary Contact”) during the ARPA certification process. The full text of the email can be found HERE.
- NEU and Non-UGLGs Agreements and Supporting Documents User Guide contains information on using Treasury’s Portal to confirm their accounts, designate the reporting roles, and submit the required information, prior to the reporting that will be due by April 30,2022.
- All municipalities are required to report on their spending directly to Treasury, by the 66 ARPA expenditure categories.
- The first Project and Expenditure Report was due April 30, 2022 and will cover the period between award date and March 31, 2022.
Resources
VLCT ARPA Resource Page
VLCT has developed a resource page for the latest information on ARPA funding and related news, including resources and local allocation updates. See here: https://www.vlct.org/resources/american-rescue-plan-information
US Treasury Resources
- Interim Final Rule
- IFR Key Word Definitions
- Appendix 1 (Table of 66 Expenditure Categories)
- FAQs–updated 11/15/21
- US Treasury Guidance for ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds
- Compliance and Reporting Guidance –updated 11/15/21
For more information or questions, please contact Bonnie Waninger (waninger@cvregion.com)