DCED Releases Statement on Deadline for ARP Application

On Friday, Ted Martin, deputy director for the state Department of Community and Economic Development DCED) released the following statement on the application deadline for non-entitlement communities, or NEUs (municipalities with populations of less than 50,000), for American Rescue Plan funding.  

“DCED has received many questions and concerns regarding its recommendation that NEUs request their funding through the commonwealth within five days of receiving the email blast we sent out on Wednesday, June 2. To be clear, this is not a hard deadline. NEUs that submit after that suggested time frame will still be able to receive their funds.  

“The reason why we recommended that NEUs request their funding as soon as possible is because the U.S. Department of Treasury is requiring all states to disburse the local ARPA funding within 30 days of receipt, which occurred right after Memorial Day. Given the internal processing required at DCED to approve the requests, as well as the extremely large volume of requests we expect to receive, the sooner that NEUs can get in their request to DCED, the more smoothly we will be able to process the requests and ensure we meet Treasury’s 30-day deadline to disburse the funds. 

“Treasury is considering extension requests beyond the 30-day deadline, but given that an extension is not guaranteed, we are working as quickly as possible to ensure all NEUs receive their funds. Therefore, we still strongly recommend that NEUs request their funding as quickly as possible.”