The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law on March 11, 2021 making $350 billion available through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to assist states, tribal governments, and local governments with the recovery from the economic impacts caused by COVID-19. The City received an allocation of $15,588,333 to be programmed by December 2024 and spent by December 2026. The City Council held four public discussions on the use of the ARPA funds - August 2, 2021, November 1, 2021, March 29,2022, and June 6, 2022. The proposed budget for the ARPA funds was adopted at the June 20, 2022 meeting through Resolution No. 117-2021.

The United States Department of the Treasury oversees the SLFRF program. The Treasury published the Interim Final Rule (IFR) in May 2021 which described eligible and ineligible uses of funds (as well as other program provisions), sought feedback from the public on these program rules, and began the distribution of funds. The Final Rule which responded to public comments, implemented the ARPA statutory provisions on eligible and ineligible uses of SLFRF funds, and made several changes to the provisions of the Interim Final Rule took effective on April, 1 2022. The Final Rule can be found here.