City of Lancaster Slated to Receive American Rescue Plan Funds

On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R. 1219, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan is a $130.2 billion Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, with $45.57 billion going to metropolitan cities to “mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).”  

The City has not received any formal notification of an allocation amount, however, the U.S. Conference of Mayors estimates that the City of Lancaster will receive $42.58 million.  

While the legislation provides limited guidance on how the funds can and cannot be used, the City is awaiting further guidance from the Secretary of Treasury in the coming weeks. This information will be shared as soon as it is available. 

In line with the City’s commitment to Sound Government, as is the case in every deliberation around use of public dollars and significant operational priorities, there will be opportunities for the public to engage to share feedback and priorities about the best ways to deploy these funds in line with forthcoming guidelines from the Federal Government, up to and including pages on engage.cityoflancasterpa.com, public meetings and more. As the largest proposed federal funding the City has ever stood to receive, the decisions about how to allocate these funds will be made with utmost deliberation.