In just 90 days, all cities who received State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will need to submit reports to Treasury. Are you ready?
As a part of accepting SLFRF funds from the federal government, cities committed to providing periodic reports to Treasury on how funds were spent in their community. To help cities prepare for the upcoming report, Treasury has published a series of webinars that help cities:
- Understand reporting responsibilities;
- Update user roles in the reporting portal;
- Use the Treasury reporting portal; and
- Understand their compliance responsibilities.
Cities can access the webinars directly on Treasury’s YouTube channel.
As cities prepare to submit ARPA reports, here are few quick reminders:
Reports are due Tuesday, April 30
This year’s report will be the third time that all ARPA recipients must submit a report to Treasury. For most cities, the reporting period will cover activity that occurred between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024. You can confirm your city’s requirements by reviewing this chart published by Treasury.
Obligation deadline is December 31
Under the 2022 Final Rule, cities must obligate their SLFRF ARPA funds by December 31, 2024.
The federal government defines obligation as: “[A]n order placed for property and services and entering into contracts, subawards, and similar transactions that require payment.”
This definition of obligation may be different than how your city approaches obligating funds. For ARPA funds to be properly obligated, cities must create a contract, subaward, or similar transaction requiring payment.
AWC recently published an article providing additional information on obligating ARPA funds.
Confirm that you can log into your account now
Staff turnover, lost passwords, and forgotten links are all things that can slow a city down in submitting their ARPA report. Take a few minutes now to see if you can log into the reporting portal. If you run into issues, contact Treasury directly or reach out to Jacob Ewing at AWC, as we may be able to provide you with information to access your account.
ARPA funds have been transformative for communities in Washington. We greatly appreciate the work of city leaders and staff as you have navigated these new sources of federal funding.