CLEVELAND — Of the $350 billion in emergency funding being provided to state and local governments as part of the American Rescue Plan, $45.6 billion is going to metropolitan cities in the U.S., and over half a million dollars of those funds will go to Cleveland, the most of any city in Ohio.
The U.S. Treasury launched the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Monday as part of the Biden Administration act passed in March, and according to a news release from the department, the funds can be used “to respond to acute pandemic-response needs, fill revenue shortfalls among state and local governments, and support the communities and populations hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis,” according to a news release from the treasury.
The eligible state, territorial, metropolitan city, county, and Tribal governments will be getting access to the funding directly from the Treasury Department in the coming days to assist communities as they recover from the pandemic, the release states.
Below is a map showing how the recovery funds will be distributed to Ohio’s cities:
Click here for a complete list of funding to U.S. cities. Ohio begins on page 19.
According to a fact sheet from the U.S. Treasury, local funding can be put towards the following:
- Support public health expenditures, by funding COVID-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, and certain public health and safety staff;
- Address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency, including economic harms to workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries, and the public sector;
- Replace lost public sector revenue, using this funding to provide government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue experienced due to the pandemic;
- Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have borne and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical infrastructure sectors; and,
- Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and to expand access to broadband internet.
Read the complete fact sheet here for more details.
In addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars going to Ohio city governments, hundreds of millions more are going to Ohio's county governments.
See a list of how much each county is receiving here - Ohio begins on page 46.
