Use or Lose: ARPA Spending Deadline Rapidly Approaching

By Dec. 31, 2024, any Pennsylvania borough, municipality, or local governmental unit that received funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) will need to have these funds obligated and these obligations must include plans to spend these funds by Dec. 31, 2026.

As background, ARPA was enacted in 2021 and it provided funding to counties, cities and local governmental units to assist in various COVID-19 recovery efforts. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Economic and Community Development (DCED), these funds are being provided for the purposes of: supporting COVID-19 response efforts as well as replace lost revenues, support economic stability for households and businesses, and address systemic public health and economic challenges. As part of the ARPA funding, Pennsylvania local governments began receiving their $6.15 billion portion of the state and local fiscal recovery funds (SLFRF) in the summer of 2021. Since receiving that SLFRF funding, Pennsylvania boroughs, municipalities and local governmental units have been working on determining the best use of these funds.