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See what the newest federal COVID relief bill could mean for your county

The American Rescue Plan Act was passed by the U.S. Senate last week and now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives with an estimated $874 million in direct aid to Kentucky counties.

On March 6, the U.S. Senate passed The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which will move back to the U.S. House of Representatives this week for final consideration before being sent to the president for his signature.

As part of the overall package, the legislation would provide approximately $350 billion in new federal fiscal assistance for states, territories, tribes, counties, and municipalities and $10 billion for coronavirus capital projects.

States, along with the District of Columbia, would receive $195.3 billion and local governments would receive $130.2 billion, split evenly between municipalities and counties, resulting in a direct county allocation of $65.1 billion. County allocation would be based on population.

The deadline to spend funds would be December 31, 2024.

The U.S. Department of Treasury will oversee and administer these payments to state and local governments, and every county would be eligible to receive a direct allocation from Treasury.

The bill outlines that funds may be used to:

  1. Respond to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality;
  2. Respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID–19 public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers of the metropolitan city, non-entitlement unit of local government, or county that are performing such essential work, or by providing grants to eligible employers that have eligible workers who perform essential work;
  3. For the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue (i.e. online, property or income tax) due to the public health emergency, or
  4. Make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

The National Association of Counties has developed county-level estimates for allocations, which you can find below. Note that these estimates are not official values from the U.S. Treasury and are subject to change. You can see more of NACo’s analysis of the legislation here.

NACo’s County-Level Estimates from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

Adair $3,757,330
Allen $4,170,789
Anderson $4,450,994
Ballard $1,543,476
Barren $8,658,374
Bath $2,445,924
Bell $5,093,783
Boone $26,138,314
Bourbon $3,871,995
Boyd $9,141,493
Boyle $5,881,957
Bracken $1,624,680
Breathitt $2,471,361
Breckinridge $4,006,814
Bullitt $15,981,861
Butler $2,520,084
Caldwell $2,494,255
Calloway $7,631,477
Campbell $18,311,946
Carlisle $931,408
Carroll $2,080,209
Carter $5,243,473
Casey $3,161,894
Christian $13,787,378
Clark $7,095,722
Clay $3,894,106
Clinton $1,999,396
Crittenden $1,723,104
Cumberland $1,294,187
Daviess $19,863,052
Edmonson $2,377,438
Elliott $1,470,881
Estill $2,760,176
Fayette $63,232,410
Fleming $2,853,121
Floyd $6,963,838
Franklin $9,977,607
Fulton $1,167,977
Gallatin $1,735,432
Garrard $3,456,775
Grant $4,905,349
Graves $7,291,983
Grayson $5,171,074
Green $2,140,868
Greenup $6,867,762
Hancock $1,706,668
Hardin $21,711,584
Harlan $5,089,478
Harrison $3,695,497
Hart $3,724,653
Henderson $8,846,417
Henry $3,155,437
Hickman $857,052
Hopkins $8,743,884
Jackson $2,608,137
Jefferson $150,034,326
Jessamine $10,588,893
Johnson $4,341,612
Kenton $32,677,149
Knott $2,897,148
Knox $6,094,263
Larue $2,817,313
Laurel $11,899,516
Lawrence $2,997,137
Lee $1,448,574
Leslie $1,932,671
Letcher $4,217,359
Lewis $2,597,571
Lincoln $4,803,598
Livingston $1,799,026
Logan $5,303,154
Lyon $1,606,483
McCracken $12,800,595
McCreary $3,371,657
McLean $1,801,570
Madison $18,195,128
Magoffin $2,379,590
Marion $3,771,223
Marshall $6,085,458
Martin $2,190,569
Mason $3,340,153
Meade $5,590,794
Menifee $1,269,728
Mercer $4,291,715
Metcalfe $1,970,632
Monroe $2,083,927
Montgomery $5,509,590
Morgan $2,604,224
Muhlenberg $5,991,926
Nelson $9,046,591
Nicholas $1,422,354
Ohio $4,694,999
Oldham $13,070,820
Owen $2,133,041
Owsley $863,900
Pendleton $2,854,882
Perry $5,040,168
Pike $11,324,822
Powell $2,418,334
Pulaski $12,714,694
Robertson $412,481
Rockcastle $3,266,776
Rowan $4,786,183
Russell $3,507,063
Scott $11,154,195
Shelby $9,592,717
Simpson $3,634,056
Spencer $3,786,485
Taylor $5,042,321
Todd $2,405,615
Trigg $2,866,818
Trimble $1,657,554
Union $2,813,986
Warren $26,004,278
Washington $2,366,676
Wayne $3,978,637
Webster $2,532,412
Whitley $7,095,918
Wolfe $1,400,438
Woodford $5,231,146

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