National League of Cities

Resources

Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Playbook

The Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Playbook is designed to educate local leaders on the value of this historic funding program, help local leaders access critical implementation resources from the Treasury and NLC, and generate the biggest impact for their communities. This guide centralizes all the information and recommendations NLC has released on SLFRF grants over the last several months and organizes them by the program’s eligible expenditure categories. It also organizes the Treasury’s key guidance resources by format. It’s a user-friendly, curated guide that includes hyperlinks to all the resources.

ARP Summary of Provisions

NLC has created an extensive, searchable summary of provisions relevant to municipalities and local leaders in this historic legislation. This resource is continually updated as more guidance emerges from various agencies.

Allocation Tracker

NLC has created an Estimated Local Allocation Tracker for the ARP. Treasury continues to refine the estimates for allocations from the State and Local Fiscal Relief Funds, but estimations for each municipality have been released. Use NLC’s new allocation tracker to find out how much your community is eligible for. ARPA guidance stipulates that a community’s allocation cannot be more than 75% of the community’s budget.

Local Recovery: Five Principles for ARP Implementation

NLC staff has written a CitiesSpeak blog on five principles for ARP implementation.

Fact Sheets

• How Non-Entitlement Units of Local Government Access Recovery Funds
• How to Spend Coronavirus State & Local Recovery Funds
• How to Use ARPA to Access Coronavirus State & Local Recovery Funds
• How to Meet Reporting Requirements for Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds
• How States Can Allocate Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to Local Governments
• How to Use Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to Ease Budget Shortfalls

2021 Events

ARPA Office Hour: The Fundamentals of Budgeting with ARPA

September 23, 3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) provides a unique opportunity for local governments to make strategic investments in long-lived assets, to enhance financial stability, and to cover temporary operating shortfalls until economic conditions and operations normalize. City budget and finance staff play a critical role in ensuring that these funds are prudently implemented within the parameters established by the Federal government.

Join this 75-minute learning session – hosted in partnership with the Government Finance Officers Association – to learn key responsibilities for finance and budget staff, guiding principles to build ARPA recovery fund plans and incorporate equity, potential challenges and pitfalls, and strategies to overcome and manage them. Each participant will receive 1 NLCU credit for participation.

Federal Advocacy Update Call: Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund Treasury Dept. Guidance

May 12, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. EST

Join the legislative team at the National League of Cities as they unpack the guidance and share resources and recommendations for municipal officials to utilize the funds appropriately. Take a look at the agenda: Review the Interim Final Rule that determines allowable uses; Share next steps NLC is taking to address guidance and review questions; Address steps Metropolitan cities (population of 50K and above) should take to request their allocation of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds through the Treasury Submission Portal. Reminder: Treasury plans to provide further guidance on distributions to non-entitlement units in the coming days.

Key Takeaways:

• Final allocations for Metropolitan cities (populations over 50k) have been released and they can begin requesting funds.
• Guidance for Non-Entitlement Units of Local Government (populations below 50K), including allocations and receiving instructions, is expected to be released in the coming days.
• Framework for Interim Rule are divided into three categories: non-exclusive lists of allowable expenditures, encouraged expenditures, and prohibited expenditures.

NLC Update Call #6: ARP Implementation

April 23, 1:30 – 2:00 p.m.

NLC wants to help you be responsible stewards of relief funds and utilize other relief programs available through ARP. Join us for the final call in this weekly series to receive updates from the Federal Advocacy team on incoming guidance from the Treasury Department and principles that municipalities can begin to follow now in preparation. We will also share upcoming resources and webinars offering technical assistance related to implementation.

NLC Update Call #5: ARP Implementation

April 16, 1:30 – 2:00 p.m.

NLC wants to help you be responsible stewards of relief funds and utilize other relief programs available through ARP. Join us this week to receive updates from the Federal Advocacy team on incoming guidance from the Treasury Department and principles that municipalities can begin to follow now in preparation. We will also address the questions we have been frequently receiving and share our new resources for the week.

NLC Update Call #4: American Rescue Plan Implementation

April 9, 1:30 – 2:15 p.m.

NLC wants to help you be responsible stewards of relief funds and utilize other relief programs available through ARP. Join us this week to receive updates from the Federal Advocacy team on incoming guidance from the Treasury Department and principles that municipalities can begin to follow now in preparation. We will also take your questions and feedback so that we can develop more robust guidance and technical assistance.

NLC Update Call #3: American Rescue Plan Implementation and Biden Jobs Plan

April 2, 1:30 – 2:00 p.m.

NLC wants to keep you informed on the latest implementation details on the American Rescue Plan (ARP), as well as the significant action by the President this week on infrastructure and jobs which NLC has been a consistent champion on. Join us this week to receive updates and the latest guidance available.

NLC Update Call #2: American Rescue Plan Implementation

March 26, 1:30 – 2:00 p.m.

NLC wants to help you be responsible stewards of these relief funds. Join us this week to receive updates from the Federal Advocacy team on how the Administration will be delivering this relief. We will also take your questions and feedback so that we can develop more robust guidance and technical assistance.

NLC Update Call #1: American Rescue Plan Implementation

March 19, 1:30 – 2:00 p.m.

After a year of relentless advocacy, the National League of Cities helped deliver $65.1 billion in COVID-19 relief to all of America’s cities, towns and villages.  Local officials from across the country: your leadership helped push this bill over the finish line. Now, NLC wants to help you be responsible stewards of these relief funds. Join us weekly for a half-hour webinar series through April 23rd, to receive updates from the Federal Advocacy team on how the Administration will be delivering this relief and what you need to know to access and administer for your communities.

Capital Projects Fund

Emergency Rental Assistance Program

International City/County Management Association

To the Rescue: How the American Rescue Act of 2021 Can Help Your Locality Recover & Rebuild

March 24, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern

ICMA and Sustainable Strategies DC will provide a 90-minute training session and valuable guidance materials on a March 24, 1:00 PM (ET) webinar.

Just under a year since the shut-down of America and its communities because of the COVID-19 virus, on March 11, 2021 President Joe Biden signed into law the comprehensive, far-reaching $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Act of 2021”. Local governments and community organizations will soon have access to substantial funding for fiscal relief, economic recovery, infrastructure, health and human services, housing assistance, food security, support for local non-profits, support for small businesses, rejuvenation of the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors – and more.

ICMA and Sustainable Strategies DC will provide a 90-minute training session and valuable guidance materials on a March 24, 1:00 PM ET webinar. This “To the Rescue” training session will provide practical, how-to information on issues including:

• Funding that will come to every unit of local government under the “Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund,” and how you can use those funds in proactive ways to revitalize your community, non-profits, small businesses, and infrastructure – as well as partner with your state government for those same activities using state-allocations of the Recovery Fund.

• Other funding in the Rescue Act for economic recovery and development, infrastructure, travel and tourism, restaurants, small business relief, transit, health and human services, food security, support for the homeless, and other critical local activities.

• A look ahead on even more resources that could become available in the pending FAST Act transportation legislation reauthorization (including earmarked projects), congressional FY2022 appropriations bills, earmarking of congressional funding for “community projects,” and the next round of stimulus under President Biden’s “Build Back Better Recovery” proposals.

Registrants for the training webcast will also receive a copy of the powerpoint deck with direct hyperlinks to the federal government sources of information on these forthcoming funds and programs, and a “Rescue & Recovery Guide” produced by Sustainable Strategies DC and ICMA for this March 24 session.