Under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), California counties are expected to receive a total of $7.67 billion in direct allocations from the federal government for COVID-19 relief funding. Each county has received the first half of its funds, with the remaining payment coming in May 2022.
Although special districts did not receive the same access to funding as other units of local government, following advocacy efforts by the National Special Districts Coalition, ARPA did grant counties and cities with specific authority to transfer a portion of their ARPA funds to special districts.
Special districts are eligible for a transfer of county or city ARPA funds for impacts not covered by the 2021-22 State Budget $100 million Independent Special District COVID-19 Relief Fund administered by the California Department of Finance, the State Water Resources Control Board’s water and wastewater arrearage program, and/or other sources of federal, state, or local funding.
Counties are already beginning to engage in the decision-making process for their second and last round of ARPA funding. Therefore, now is the time for special districts to prepare for and request funding for any eligible unmet pandemic-related and eligible infrastructure needs, as this may be special districts’ final opportunity to request ARPA funds through a county transfer.
To assist special districts in applying for a transfer of county ARPA funds, CSDA has developed a County Toolkit a with template email request and FAQs. The Toolkit many be accessed through CSDA’s COVID-19 Take Action page.
To learn more about your special district’s eligibility, hear a detailed overview of qualified projects and programs available through ARPA funding, plus tips for putting together a compelling funding request to your county, please attend the upcoming CSDA webinar on March 2nd from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. The webinar will include a period for CSDA staff to answer questions. Click here to register.
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