Background/Purpose of Request:
The US Treasury issued it's Final Rule for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding earlier this year, and since that time, Brunswick County staff (with the help of the UNC School of Government and NCACC) has worked to develop a policy and procedural manual for qualifying and administrating funding priorities proposed to be implemented using ARPA funding.
Staff is requesting Commissioner approval of the proposed Policies & Procedural Manual for ARPA funding to allow staff to move forward with previously approved ARPA funding priorities, as well as begin the process of completing others as prioritized and approved by the Board.
Within the Final Rule came a newly announced "standard allowance" for recipients of APRA funding to use up to $10 million as revenue replacement for general government services. The County intends to use the full $10 million allowed to account for revenue replacement during the pandemic for items such as salaries, vaccine rollout, PPE, and other expenses incurred by the County in response to the pandemic.
By using this "standard allowance" allowed under ARPA guidelines, the County can redirect General Fund dollars that were previously spent on pandemic response to new project priorities of the County (provided they are general fund expenses).
Staff is not seeking approval of the project funding list at this time, but the list of identified projects has been carefully created to meet ARPA guidelines for appropriate expenditures, as well as reallocate the $10 million "standard allowance" towards projects that would have beneficial impacts to the community as a whole.
The proposed priority funding list was generated using feedback from Commissioners, County staff, and members of community including non-profit organizations, small business owners, and community stakeholders who have provided great interest or support to the County's pandemic response.
Guidance and feedback on the proposed funding list is requested so that staff may begin to finalize the list and make any adjustments requested by the Board. There are some indications that additional flexibility and/or clarification may be provided by Congress with relation to ARPA-eligible expenditures, so staff has recommended a portion of the funding be set aside for future projects yet to be determined.
Each of the ARPA funded projects will come back before the Board for individual approval at later dates, once additional detail or cost estimates are determined. There may be costs higher or lower than estimated on the proposed list, so future changes are likely to occur once additional information is gathered.
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