Cape Cod Ledger

The Town of Dennis is seeking input from residents on potential uses for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), a part of the American Rescue Plan, deliver $350 billion to state, local, and Tribal governments across the country to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The program ensures that governments have the resources needed to:

• Fight the pandemic and support families and businesses struggling with its public health and economic impacts,
• Maintain vital public services, even amid declines in revenue, and
• Build a strong, resilient, and equitable recovery by making investments that support long-term growth and opportunity.

Dennis’ remaining direct appropriation is for $725,929+/-.

Permitted uses, under the Treasury’s Final Rule are:

1. Responding to the public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic (which includes several sub-categories)
   1. Recipients can use funds for programs, services, or capital expenditures that respond to the public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic.
   2. To provide simple and clear eligible uses of funds, Treasury provides a list of enumerated uses that recipients can provide to households, populations, or classes (i.e., groups) that experienced pandemic impacts.
   3. Public health eligible uses include COVID-19 mitigation and prevention, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, and preventing and responding to violence.
   4. Eligible uses to respond to negative economic impacts are organized by the type of beneficiary: assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits
2. Providing premium pay to essential workers
   1. Recipients may provide premium pay to eligible workers – generally those working in-person in key economic sectors – who are below a wage threshold or non-exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions, or if the recipient submits justification that the premium pay is responsive to workers performing essential work.
3. Providing government services to the extent of revenue loss due to the pandemic, and
   1. Recipients may use funds up to the amount of revenue loss for government services; generally, services traditionally provided by recipient governments are government services, unless Treasury has stated otherwise
4. Making necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.
   1. Recipients may fund a broad range of water and sewer projects, including those eligible under the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund, EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and certain additional projects, including a wide set of lead remediation, stormwater infrastructure, and aid for private wells and septic units.
   2. Recipients may fund high-speed broadband infrastructure in areas of need that the recipient identifies, such as areas without access to adequate speeds, affordable options, or where connections are inconsistent or unreliable; completed projects must participate in a low-income subsidy program.

Submissions will be accepted until Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 12noon.

Please submit ideas and proposals to the Select Board office at cbutler@town.dennis.ma.us with “ARPA Fund Uses for Consideration” in the subject line; or in writing to Town Hall, 685 Route 134, South Dennis, MA with Attn: ARPA

Original source can be found here.