On Feb. 21, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) resumed operations of its Office of Recovery Programs Contact Center which provides technical assistance to recipients of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds administered by Treasury. This includes the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (Recovery Fund), the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund (LATCF), and the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program. Treasury alerted county recipients to the Contact Center’s reopening on Feb. 14, stating that:
“The Contact Center closed last year due to an administrative funding shortfall, which impacted Treasury’s ability to provide support to recipients of funding from the Office of Recovery Programs. However, late last year Congress provided additional resources for the Office of Recovery Programs in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. As a result, Treasury is able to reopen the Contact Center in order to better support recipients by answering their phone and email inquiries.”
Since the bill’s initial introduction in Oct. 2021, the National Association of Counties (NACo) has advocated for the passage of the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act to provide counties with the flexibility to invest funds in transportation infrastructure, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)-eligible and natural disaster related projects. The bill was ultimately passed as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus appropriations bill (Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2023) in Dec. 2022. In addition to the expanded flexibilities, the bill also unlocked unobligated administrative funds for the Office of Recovery Programs that has allowed Treasury to reopen this contact center. Treasury is expected to release additional guidance for the bill’s expanded eligible uses in the coming month. NACo will alert counties when this guidance is available.
Since ARPA was enacted in March 2021, counties have been working tirelessly with Treasury to ensure Recovery Funds have the flexibility to properly address our unique needs and that we are fulfilling our role as sound financial stewards. Treasury has been a critical partner and valuable resource throughout the implementation of the Recovery Fund and with the recent release of LATCF payments, this partnership is as critical as ever.
NACo also has several resources available to counties to assist with the continued implementation and investment of the Recovery Fund and LATCF. Counties may ask questions regarding ARPA recovery funds here and NACo staff will respond via email.
Contributed by: Maxx Silvan | NACo