ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) Funding:

Basic Info:

I (Rob) recently attended a meeting in Decatur, AL that offered a brief understanding of these funds. And, again, water and wastewater are afterthoughts. However; there is a path to accessing these monies given a person representing water and wastewater interests can express a project's needs and how that project may assist the local community.

With that said, let me give you the short version of this program.

There have been made some $1.7 billion dollars to the Cities and Counties of Alabama. There is a process that those entities have to engage in order to access their share of funding.

That program is available and The League of Municipalities is best situated to assist those groups apply for and get their share of funding.

Cons

• Localities have broad discretion in how funding will be allocated.
• If (for those who are organized separately from their City/County) you have a project that qualifies, you have to promote your project and fight for a piece of the funding available.
• As a Board or Authority, you have no control on access to these funds at present.

Pros

• $1.7 billion in funding available to localities in Alabama with an additional >$2 billion for the State to work on how to appropriate.
• Water and Wastewater Projects are eligible for funding.
• Funding can be acquired for any project that meets ADEM SRF project qualifications.
• Localities have broad discretion in how funding will be allocated.

Resources

• Powerpoints from my meeting will be made available, but have not been made available yet. As soon as they are, we will link them here.
• AL League of Municipalities ARPA info
• US Treasury Dept ARP info
• More to come as we learn more. Just please go get your group some funding through the league as soon as possible . Once allocated, you may have opportunity to acquire some of those funds.