ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Finance Director with a Request to hold a POLICY SESSION on the CORONAVIRUS STATE and LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUNDS
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BACKGROUND: Congress recently passed the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan, which included $350 Billion for state and local governments through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF). Over the next two years, the City of Peoria will receive $47,089,976 in FRF. Last week, the City received the first $23,544,988.
Congress outlined specific funding objectives:
* Support urgent COVID-19 response efforts to continue to decrease spread of the virus and bring the pandemic under control
* Replace lost public sector revenue to strengthen support for vital public services and help retain jobs
* Support immediate economic stabilization for households and businesses
* Address systemic public health and economic challenges that have contributed to the inequal impact of the pandemic
Within these objectives, Congress and the Treasury Department outlined several areas of allowable expenditures:
* Support Public Health Response
* Address Negative Economic Impacts
* Replace Public Sector Revenue Loss
* Premium Pay for Essential Workers
* Water and Sewer Infrastructure
* Broadband Infrastructure
Since the pandemic has disproportionately impacted low-income families and communities of color, the FRF provides for additional flexibility for equity-focused services:
* Additional flexibility for the hardest-hit communities and families to address health disparities, invest in housing, address educational disparities, and promote healthy childhood environments
* Broadly applicable to Qualified Census Tracts, other disproportionately impacted areas, and when provided by Tribal governments
There are specific prohibited uses of the funds:
* Changes that reduce net tax revenue must not be offset with American Rescue Plan Funds
* Extraordinary payments into a pension fund are a pr...
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