It’s been almost two years since cities received federal COVID relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), but even two years later, there are new developments headed this way.

Phone and email support coming back

As you might remember, in October 2022, Treasury shut down the ARPA contact centers due to budget limitations. The contact centers provided basic support for local governments as they sorted out issues and questions about utilizing ARPA funds.

With the passage of the late-December 2023 federal omnibus bill, Treasury received authorization to reopen those centers. As of February 21, cities are able to contact Treasury via phone and email.

Here is the contact information for the call centers: SLFRF@treasury.gov or call (844) 529-9527.

New rules incoming – Expected end of February or early March

Another positive impact of the recently passed omnibus bill is new allowable uses of COVID funds. The new uses include funding roads and bridges as well as aiding people impacted by natural disasters. The exact details and rules of the expanded uses are still in development and should be released by Treasury in late February or early March.

While the changes are welcomed, the newly released rules will only truly benefit cities who received more than $10 million in ARPA funds or cities that chose not to claim the standard allowance for general government services created under the final rule released in January 2022.

You can read more about the changes here.

Next report for all cities due April 30 – Can you login?

While April is still a month away, now is a good time to make sure you are ready to submit your next ARPA report to Treasury. While the report isn’t terribly complicated for many Washington cities, logging into the portal has proven to be difficult for some. If you haven’t logged into the portal since last year, take the time now to make sure you have access to it.

Please be aware that there are two different links for accessing the reporting portal depending on if your city is using Login.gov or ID.me.

Link for Login.gov users

Link for ID.me users

In some cases, AWC may be able to help determine a city’s authorized account administrator. If you are having trouble logging in, please contact Jacob Ewing.

The March 2023 report won’t be available in the portal until late March or early April. The report will cover spending from March 2022 to March 2023. Cities who have not spent any ARPA funds as well as cities that have exhausted their ARPA funds will still need to complete the report.