To the leadership of Maryland’s Non-Entitlement Units (NEUs):
As a follow up to the Distribution of Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds email request sent last week from the Department of Management and Budget (DBM), MML will be hosting an important informational webinar on Thursday, June 17th at 10:00 AM.
Our presenters will be Marc Nicole, Deputy Secretary of DBM and Kristin Kerr, Management Analyst at Hagerty Consulting. They will provide information and answer questions essential to the receipt of municipal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding. Please note that this webinar will not cover acceptable use of funds; however, we are planning a follow up webinar with DBM to discuss specific implementation issues.
You must register for the Webinar to attend.
Zoom Webinar Information
When: Jun 17, 2021 10:00 AM
Topic: Funding Request Guidance with DBM
Register at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0B6vhBzbTz6Q2yHnEraHKQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. If you have questions or have problems registering, contact Caleb Wolf at calebw@mdmunicipal.org.
Background Information:
As an NEU (generally defined as a municipality with a population < 50,000), your ARP federal funding will come from the state who serves as the pass-through from the U.S. Department of Treasury. On Friday, June 4th, the Maryland Department of Budget & Management (DBM) sent an email titled Distribution of Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds - With Attachments from the address arpa.neuadmin@maryland.gov.
Your municipality is required to fill out all the information requested by DMB by June 30th in order to receive your allotted Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the ARP.
We are encouraging all municipalities to accept the funding now, as you are able to return any monies that could not be spent appropriately.
If you need assistance with any portion of the request from DBM, they have set up an email account for such concerns: arpa.neuadmin@maryland.gov.
However, if you are not able to get a timely response, please reach out to MML by emailing Caleb Wolf at calebw@mdmunicipal.org or calling him at 410-295-9105.
As we have reiterated throughout this process, please take your time to plan how you will spend this money within the federal guidelines. There is no rush to spend the funds, which must be obligated by December 31, 2024, and spent to cover such obligations by December 31, 2026. Also, the Treasury is still taking public comment on its Interim Final Rule until July 16th, after which clearer guidelines on what the funds can and cannot be spent on will be released.