Last week, Treasury published the final rule providing guidance on how Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) given to cities under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) can be used over the next several years.
Final rule
The final rule will take effect on April 1, 2022. Until that time, cities should continue to follow the interim final rule. However, cities may choose to take advantage of the final rule’s additional flexibilities and simplifications now, even ahead
of the effective date.
The final rule can be viewed here. Treasury also published an overview as well as an updated
compliance statement.
Staff at AWC and NLC are reviewing the final rule. We will provide updates on the impacts and changes in the final rule as they become available.
First project and expenditure report deadline approaching
Depending on the size of your city and the amount of SLFRF funding your city received under the ARPA, you will need to submit your project and expenditure report by the following deadlines:
January 31, 2022
- Metropolitan cities with a population of more than 250,000 residents; and
- Metropolitan cities with a population below 250,000 and who received more than $10 million in SLFRF funding.
Moving forward, these entities will need to submit project & expenditure reports quarterly at least 30 days after the end of each quarter. A full reporting schedule can be viewed here.
April 30, 2022
- Metropolitan cities with a population below 250,000 and who received less than $10 million in SLFRF funding; and
- Non-entitlement cities. These are cities that received their SLFRF funds through the state instead of directly through Treasury.
Moving forward, these entities will submit Project & Expenditure Reports annually on April 30.
If you are unsure of your city’s reporting requirements, please refer to this chart published by Treasury.
The project & expenditure report will cover several areas including:
- Projects
- Expenditures
- Project status
- Project demographic distribution
- Subawards
- Civil rights compliance
- Programmatic data for non-infrastructure projects
- Programmatic data for infrastructure projects
Treasury provides more detail on pages 17-22 of the Compliance and Reporting Guidelines.
ARPA coordinators’ roundtable
To help cities share ideas and information, AWC is hosting meetings for ARPA coordinators. These monthly meetings are an opportunity to hear updates, share ideas, and ask questions. If you or a city staff member would like to attend these meetings, please
complete this form. Meetings are held the
third Wednesday of each month at 1:30 pm.