Billions on the way: How much money is headed to your state, city from the COVID rescue plan
Biden: Economy rebuild is 'a marathon', not sprint
Here's what $350 billion in direct aid to city, county and state governments will mean for your community.
WASHINGTON — Billions in federal aid is on the way to thousands of city and county governments and all 50 states, delivering on one of the key components of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
Here's what it will mean for your state or community.
The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, approved by Democrats in Congress in March, set aside $350 billion in direct aid for local and state governments after many cut back operations during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Treasury Department opened a portal Monday to allow state, tribal, city, and county governments to apply for their share of funds, which are the subject of strict federal guidelines on how the money can be used. Payments are expected to start in the coming days. Money must be spent by the end of 2024.
Treasury officials provided an updated breakdown on the dollar amounts each state, city, county and tribal government will receive.
In all, $195.3 billion will go to states and the District of Columbia, $65.1 billion to county governments, $45.6 billion to metropolitan cities, $20 billion to tribal governments and $19.5 billion to non-entitlement units of local government; and $4.5 billion to U.S. territories.
How much money goes to each state?
States' allocations are based on unemployment data.
All state governments will receive a baseline of $500 million. But most of the money for states will be allocated proportionally to their unemployment as determined by the number of unemployed individuals over a three-month period from October to December.
California will receive the most money among state governments ($27.02 billion), followed by $15.81 billion for Texas, $12.74 billion for New York, $8.82 billion for Florida and $8.13 billion for Illinois.
The unemployment criteria explains, for example, why New York's state government is line for the third most amount of money even though Florida is the third most populated state.
States in line for the least amount of federal aid are Montana, $906 million; Delaware, $925 million; South Dakota, $974 million; New Hampshire, $995 million; and Maine, $997 million.
How much money goes to each county?
All cities and most states will receive funds in two tranches: one after the Treasury Department approves their application and the second in 12 months. States that have experienced a jump in unemployment of 2% or more since February will receive their funds in a single payment.
The amount of relief for city governments is determined by population and poverty in each community.
Relief for some of the largest counties includes $1.9 billion for Los Angeles County (Los Angeles), $1 billion for Cook County, Illinois (Chicago), $916 million for Harris County, Texas (Houston) and $871 billion for Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix).
How much money goes to each city?
Like counties, the amount of funding for metropolitan cities is also decided by population and a poverty index.
The City of New York will receive $4.3 billion; Chicago, $1.9 billion; Los Angeles, $1.3 billion; Philadelphia, $1.1 billion; and Detroit, $827 million.
The relief has strict guidelines. Eligible uses include: public health expenditures such as coronavirus mitigation efforts and medical expenses; addressing negative economic impacts, including a reduction of public sector workers or small businesses hurt by the pandemic; replacing lost tax revenue; addressing poverty and offering additional pay for essential workers.
Local and state governments are also authorized to use the money to invest in water and sewer or broadband infrastructure. But other general infrastructure such as roads and bridges repairs are not among the acceptable uses – although cities could use funds awarded to replace lost tax revenue on road projects.
Recipients of the money are also prohibited from using funds to offset tax cuts that were enacted after March 3 or to contribute to pension funds or pad reserves.