American Rescue Plan Fund Tracking
May 1, 2024 • 8 MIN READ
All ARPA Awards
Click on the following link to view the current status of ARPA awards as of June 30, 2023:
Check back regularly for updates.
Round Two Awards
Between April 11-25, 2023, the Town Select Board approved $10.7 million in projects for the Round Two ARPA funding to several local organizations and municipal departments to support a variety of COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts: Rental Assistance, Affordable Housing, Mental Health, Food Access, Continuation of Town Services, Education, Transportation, and Economic Recovery, to name a few.
Other News and Announcements
Premium Pay Program
The Select Board has approved $6.0 million to support a premium pay program for eligible Town employees. Eligibility for premium pay, under the ARPA rules and regulations, would apply to currently active regular full-time and benefit-eligible part-time employees that worked in person for at least 40 days between April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 (Treasury's Final Rule, page 4396-400). Further ineligibility applies to employees in positions where services were not operating.
Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Fund
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319), also known as ARPA, into law. The $1.9 trillion package is intended to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including the public health and economic impacts. The American Rescue Plan Act allocates hundreds of billions of dollars for public health and vaccines, assistance for vulnerable populations, education and housing stabilization, economic recovery assistance and direct assistance for families and individuals.
$360 Billion, or about 19%, of the total funding in the ARPA is dedicated to the Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF), Section 9901 of the legislation. These funds are dedicated to nearly every State, Tribal Nation, County, City, Town, and Village across the country.
About $130 Billion, or 1/3 of the total CSLFRF, is available specifically for local governments. Many jurisdictions that saw no aid from the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) will receive money directly or as a pass through from their state. Half of these funds are for counties, and half are for cities and other non-county jurisdictions.
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All Counties will receive direct federal aid.
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Cities with populations of at least 50,000: $45.57 billion in direct federal aid using a modified CDBG formula.
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Cities with populations below 50,000: $19.53 billion based on each jurisdiction’s percentage of the state’s population, not exceeding 75 percent of its most recent budget as of January 27, 2020 distributed through the states.
Flexible Use and Extended Time Horizon
While the CARES Act and CRF were intended to respond to the direct and immediate impacts of the public health emergency, the American Relief Plan and CSLFRF are aimed at continuing that response and providing relief to the economic impacts of the public health response. As a result, the CSLFRF funds may be used in the following ways (as identified in the bill's text.)
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To respond to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality;
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To respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID–19 public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers of the metropolitan city, nonentitlement unit of local government, or county that are performing such essential work, or by providing grants to eligible employers that have eligible workers who perform essential work;
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For the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue of such metropolitan city, nonentitlement unit of local government, or county due to the COVID–19 public health emergency relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year of the metropolitan city, nonentitlement unit of local government, or county prior to the emergency; or
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To make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.
$32,406,450
TOTAL ARPA FUNDING TO BROOKLINE
$32,406,450
ARPA FUNDING RECIEVED TO DATE
$11,466,154
POTENTIAL ARPA FUNDING TO BROOKLINE FROM NORFOLK COUNTY
Brookline's ARPA Milestones
January 11, 2022
Due to the expiration of federal CARE’s funding in December 2021, a COVID-19 Response Continuation budget of $1.8 million was approved by the Town's Select Board (watch here). This allows the Town to continue supporting remote meetings, provide safe access to public buildings, manage grant compliance activities, and provide other COVID-related responses through fiscal year 2023. This was separate from Round One requests that may be considered as part of a larger strategy regarding the use of ARPA funds.
February 8, 2022
The Brookline Community Foundation (BCF) presented their ARPA Community Engagement & Survey Results to the board (watch presentation here) and published the full report. The BCF’s findings will help the Town target investments in the greatest needs identified by the community, such as COVID-19 Response, Food Insecurity, Secondary and Higher Education, Assistance to Households, Green and Public Spaces, Mental Health Care Programs and Services, Broadband Infrastructure, and Housing—to name a few. The BCF will continue their involvement with ARPA by providing technical assistance to applicants.
March 1, 2022
The ARPA Submission Review Committee was created to review ARPA proposal submissions and provide recommendations to the Select Board for funding.
March 18, 2022
The application period for Round One of ARPA ends. From September 21st, 2021 to March 18th, 2022, the Town received 86 applications totaling $164,002,339 in requests.
April 15, 2022
After weeks of deliberations and public input, members of the ARPA Submission Review Committee finalized their recommendations to create a $21.4 million slate of proposals. See Additional Resources below for earlier versions of the slate.
April 19, 2022
The Select Board approved over $22.4 million in projects for the Round One ARPA funding to several local organizations and municipal departments to support a variety of COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts: Affordable Housing, Mental Health, Food Access, Continuation of Town Services, Education, Transportation, and Economic Recovery, to name a few (watch here).
April 26, 2022
The Select Board conditionally committed $1.0 million to the design of the Beacon Street Bridle Path (watch here). This conditional commitment is to meet the 50-50 local funding match required by a proposed federal earmark, which would provide an additional $1.0 million in support for this project. Funding would only occur in the event of a successful earmark. Other sources for local match may be considered.
June 14, 2022
The Select Board approved $0.4 million for stormwater improvements to help offset water and sewer rate increases on Town residents (watch here). In the same meeting, an additional $2.2 million was approved for the COVID-19 Response Continuation budget allowing the Town to maintain certain efforts through fiscal year 2025 (watch here). Specifically, the additional funding (also referred to as in the non-competitive budget) would continue the support for remote meetings, safe access to public buildings, and grant administration while also providing new support for Town's efforts in expanding language access.
January 3, 2023
The application period for round Two funding begins.
January 31, 2023
The Select Board approves $0.3 million to supporting Harvard Street as an MBTA Communities mixed-use district.
February 7, 2023
The application period for round Two funding ends.
February 21, 2023
The Select Board approves $6.0 million to fund a premium pay program for eligible Town employees.
April 7, 2023
The Select Board approved over $10.2 million in projects for the Round Two ARPA funding to several local organizations and municipal departments to support a variety of COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts: Rental Assistance, Affordable Housing, Mental Health, Food Access, Continuation of Town Services, Education, Transportation, and Economic Recovery, to name a few (watch here).