SPRINGFIELD – Governor JB Pritzker today announced that $40 million in payments are being made to 74 local governments, representing the first wave of more than $742 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) aid to 1,250 small cities, towns and villages across Illinois. These federal relief dollars can be used to cover expenses incurred while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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With the first payments now made, the administration is urging local governments who have not yet done so to take steps to apply for funding before the deadline of September 30, 2021. In accordance with federal guidelines, non entitlement units (NEUs) that do not take steps to apply for these funds in time will not be able to claim these dollars for their communities later on.
“My administration is committed to ensuring that relief made possible through the American Rescue Plan Act reaches all of our communities as quickly as possible,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats in Congress – more than $742 million is available for our local governments to continue recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the deadline for funding quickly approaching, I urge all eligible communities to apply for their share of funding as we work together to build a strong economic recovery across Illinois.”
Eligible local governments can claim their allotments and receive technical assistance at https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/CURENEU/Pages/default.aspx, a web portal created by the State of Illinois. Municipalities can register for a webinar providing guidance on federal reporting requirements scheduled for Monday, August 16, through the technical assistance page at the following link: https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/CURENEU/Pages/TechnicalAssistance.aspx.
To date, half of eligible municipalities have taken steps to claim federal funds by completing the portal submission. Those which have submitted, but have not yet received payment, are under review. Local government portal contacts should keep an eye on the email for correspondence from the state on the status of their submission.
Municipalities completing the portal submission, including all of the documentation required by U.S. Treasury, can expect to receive half of their funding in approximately 30 days with the remaining half roughly a year later. With these payments, a total of $80 million of the funding has been claimed. The deadline for municipalities to apply for funding is September 30, 2021. There will be no other opportunity for municipalities to apply for later distributions.
Municipalities can view their payments here:
https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/CURENEU/Documents/NEU%20Payments_Master.pdf
"Ensuring that federal funding from the American Rescue Plan reaches into all of our communities is essential to our economic recovery from the pandemic," said Sylvia Garcia, Acting Director of DCEO."While hundreds of cities and towns have taken steps to claim their Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery funds, hundreds more still need to submit requests before the September 30 deadline. DCEO’s NEU Support team stands ready to assist small cities, towns and villages with their applications to request these recovery dollars, which will help restore economic vitality for communities statewide.”
ARPA, approved by Congress and the Biden administration earlier this year, established the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund to provide a critical source of relief for local governments, including smaller governments which have not received direct fiscal assistance from the federal government since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. States, including Illinois, are receiving funding from the U.S. Treasury Department to distribute to smaller local governments on a per-capita basis. Larger cities and counties already have received funding directly from the federal government.
Eligible local governments include cities, towns and villages serving populations of less than 50,000, that did not receive direct aid from ARPA. These smaller, so-called non-entitlement units of local government (NEUs), are being allocated funds they can use to cover revenue losses and the costs of responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency or to its negative economic impacts on households, small businesses, impacted industries, essential workers, and the communities hardest-hit by the crisis. These funds can also be used to invest in building, maintaining, or upgrading water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.
Each local government receiving funds is required to provide a project expenditure report to the U.S. Treasury by the end of October, then annually thereafter. Each must follow all federal compliance and reporting responsibilities. DCEO will help local governments navigate the reporting requirements.
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