ARPA General Information

On March 11th, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into law. ARPA provides stimulus to individuals, businesses, and government entities to assist in their respective COVID-19 responses. ARPA interests townships both as a government entity and an employer. Minnesota towns will receive a portion of $350 Million provided to all Minnesotan towns and cities with a population under 50,000, but none can receive more than 75% of their 2019 budget. The term “budget” for setting the 75% limit means either formal budget, which many towns do not have, or a town’s 2019 total expenditures. The deadline to apply for these funds was October 10th, 2021. At this time, no more towns will receive any further funds.

Any town that applied for ARPA will receive its funds in two tranches. The first tranche began to be distributed in July of 2021 and ran through November of 2021. The second tranche will likely be distributed sometime during mid-summer to early fall of 2022. Towns also received a supplemental distribution for the remaining funds from NEUs that did not apply. Each town can review its to-date distribution and distribution dates in this document.

The U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) was tasked with clarifying ARPA. On May 17th, 2021, the Treasury released their Interim Final Rule, which was the original clarification related to many of these rules. Throughout 2021, the Treasury received public comment on the Interim Final Rule aiding them in further clarifying the rule. In early January 2022, the Treasury published the Final Rule, which was generally broader than the Interim Final Rule. Any further discussion on this issue can be found in the ARPA Uses tab.

Towns that have received ARPA funds must complete a yearly report on the use of ARPA funds. The first report must be completed by April 30th, 2022. The reports will run through 2026 or when all of the ARPA funds are expended, whichever is earlier.