Grimes County seeks $5.6 M from American Rescue Plan Act

At the May 19, 2021, Grimes County Commissioners Court, commissioners took action to apply for funds from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. The Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden March 11 and established the $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, providing direct aid from the U.S. Treasury Department to state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments.

Of that $350 billion, $65.1 billion will go to counties nationwide and Texas’ 254 counties are slated to receive almost $5.7 billion.

Judge Joe Fauth said, “This is going to affect $2.8 million this year and $2.8 million next year, and they’ve extended the expenditure time to 2026. I would hate for us not to go through the application process and not be eligible for that funding because even though those are federal dollars, they got that money from us. If they’re going to spend it, I’d just as soon they spend it on us.”

Dos and don’ts

While counties are allowed some flexibility in how funds are spent, there are restrictions, but U.S. Treasury guidelines allow local governments to:

Support public health expenditures to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and mitigate the effects of Covid-19.

Address the negative economic effects caused by the pandemic by providing assistance to households, small businesses, nonprofits, or industries such as tourism and travel that were hit particularly hard by the pandemic.

Serve communities and families hit hardest by the pandemic.

Replace lost public sector revenue to avoid cuts to government services.

Provide premium pay for essential workers performing essential work during the pandemic. Premium pay is defined as an additional amount up to $13 per hour, with a cap of $25,000 for any individual eligible worker.

Invest in water and sewer infrastructure.

Invest in broadband infrastructure.

As for restrictions, counties are not permitted to deposit funds into any pension programs or use the money to offset tax cuts during the covered period, or to backfill revenue from a tax cut. Additional restrictions include funding debt service, paying legal settlements or judgements, or depositing recovery money into rainy day funds or financial reserves.

The funds are scheduled to arrive via direct deposit in two portions with the first 50% arriving this month (May) and the remaining 50% arriving 12 months later. Funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.