Local Government Stimulus Information

Provides funding to all municipalities and counties to:

• Respond to or mitigate the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses and nonprofits, or aid impacted industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality. Expenditures are not limited only to these activities.
• Provide government services that otherwise would be at risk because of the reduction in tax revenue due to the public health emergency.
• Make necessary investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.
• Respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers who are performing such essential work, or by providing grants to eligible employers who have eligible workers performing essential work.

• Funds must not offset any new tax reductions or delay the imposition of any tax or tax increase.
• Grants cannot be used to support a pension fund.
• Funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2024.

• U.S. Treasury
• Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) as designated by the Governor’s Office

Every county is eligible to receive funding based on the county’s share of the U.S. population. Counties that are Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipients will receive a larger share based on the CDBG grant allocation method.

Cities with more than 50,000 residents are designated metropolitan cities. These cities will receive funding based on the modified CDBG formula.

Cities with populations under 50,000, designated as “non-metropolitan” cities, will receive funding on a per capita basis.

Grant

Texas local government units will be receiving $10.5 billion divided as follows:

• Counties with direct U.S. Treasury payments: $5.7 billion
• Metropolitan cities with direct U.S. Treasury payments (populations 50,000+): $3.4 billion
• Cities not receiving direct U.S. Treasury payments (populations less than 50,000): $1.386 billion

No application is required. However, entities eligible to receive direct payments from the U.S. Treasury should gather certain information in advance to expedite transmission of funds after the program is launched.

Each county and eligible metropolitan city will receive the funds in two equal payments. The first will arrive in mid-May 2021, and the second will be delivered no earlier than 12 months after receipt of the first payment.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) will distribute funds to non-metropolitan cities. TDEM will manage the application process, payment of funds and communications from the Treasury Department. An authorized individual of the city must agree to the terms and conditions of the funding and sign the submission package. Non-entitlement units (NEUs) will need to submit the signed documentation to the state’s Grants Management System (GMS) website. Instructions can be found on TDEM’s webpage.

• The National League of Cities
• National Association of Counties
• National Council of State Legislatures
• Texas Association of Counties

• U.S. Department of Education (DoEd) Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)
• Texas Education Agency (TEA)

• Total ARP ESSER Fund allocation to Texas: $12,418,588,778
• Minimum LEA distribution (90 percent): $11,176,729,900
• Maximum SEA reservation¹: $1,241,858,878
• Maximum for SEA administration (1/2 of 1 percent): $62,092,944

¹Each SEA must reserve, at a minimum, 7 percent of its total allocation as follows: 1) 5 percent for interventions to address learning loss; 2) 1 percent for summer enrichment programs; and 3) 1 percent for comprehensive after-school programs.

• Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
• ARP ESSER State Allocation Table (PDF)
• ARP ESSER Fact Sheet (PDF)
• Texas Education Agency
  • Release of ESSER III Formula Funds to Texas Public School Systems
  • ARP Act, ESSER III Grant Total Allocation Amounts (PDF)
  • ARP ESSER III Grant Program description

• U.S. Treasury
• Texas Governor’s Office
• Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM)

• Six cities and 12 counties in Texas with populations exceeding 500,000 in the most recent census received a direct payment of funds from the U.S. Treasury. Cities not eligible to receive a direct payment from the U.S. Treasury but located in a county that DID receive a direct payment should work with their county for CRF funding. View a list of Texas entities receiving a direct payment (PDF) .
• The remaining 242 counties, and each city within those counties, are eligible to apply to TDEM for a share of funds.

• Texas Received: $11.24 billion
• Texas Jurisdictions w/Direct U.S. Treasury Payments (Populations 500,000+): $3.2 billion
• Texas Jurisdictions (Not Receiving Direct U.S. Treasury Payments): $1.85 billion

The deadline to apply for the CRF was Oct. 16, 2020. Local governments should note that under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, any funds received must be spent by Dec. 31, 2021 or returned to the federal government. The prior deadline established by the CARES Act was Dec. 31, 2020.

• U.S. Department of the Treasury: Cares Act
• Letter to County and City Leaders regarding CRF (PDF)
• Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM): Coronavirus Relief Fund.
• U.S. Department of the Treasury: Cares Act FAQ (PDF)

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

• American Rescue Plan Supplemental Funding for COVID-19 Testing
• Expanded testing and vaccination distribution funding announcement
• COVID-19 testing funding table (PDF)
• COVID-19 vaccination funding table (PDF)

• qualifies for the existing federal Lifeline subsidy (which the household may receive in addition to the EBB benefit);
• has been approved to receive benefits under federal free and reduced-price school meals programs;
• has experienced a ”substantial loss of income“ since Feb. 29, 2020;
• has received a federal Pell Grant; or
• meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider's low-income or COVID-19 program that meets certain criteria, including that the program was in existence as of April 1, 2020.

• Federal Communications Commission, Public Notice (PDF)
• JD Supra, Summary of Consolidated Appropriations Act’s Broadband Network Deployment Provisions
• Congressional Research Service, Federal Universal Service Fund and Other Selected Federal Broadband Programs: A Primer(PDF)
• The National Law Review, Overview of Broadband Funding Opportunities in the COVID-19 Relief Act

• Funds Available for Texas (cumulative): $5,529,552,209
• Minimum Local Educational Agency (LEA) Distribution¹: $4,976,596,988
• Maximum State Educational Agency (SEA) Reservation²: $552,955,221
• Maximum for SEA Administration^1,2:$27,647,761

1. The minimum LEA distribution, maximum SEA reservation and maximum for SEA administration have been rounded to the nearest whole dollar. The minimum LEA distribution and maximum SEA reservation amounts assume that the SEA subgrants the minimum required amount of 90 percent of its ESSER II award to its LEAs.
2. The SEA may reserve an amount equal to up to ½ of 1 percent of the total.

• Office of Elementary and Secondary Education:
  • ESSER Fund webpage
  • ESSER II calculation methodology table (PDF)
  • ESSER II fact sheet (PDF)
• TEA: CARES Act expense reimbursement FAQ (PDF)

• Total Section 312 Allocation (GEER Fund): $287,499,442
• Section 312(b) Supplemental Allocation (GEER II): $134,331,197
• Section 312(d) Allocation Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools (EANS): $153,168,245
• Maximum Reservation of EANS Funds for Administration: $765,841

• Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund
• Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund II fact sheet (PDF)
• Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools (EANS)

• Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021
• CRRSAA Supplemental and Public Transportation Apportionments and Allocations
• Urbanized Area Formula Grants