Five Facts: How Will ARPA Funds Impact Southwest Connecticut?

1. More than $150 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), passed in March 2021, has been allocated among Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, and Fairfield. The municipalities have until Dec. 31, 2024 to allocate their funds, and until Dec. 31, 2026 to spend all of their funds.
2. The funding can go to: addressing the impacts of COVID-19, both from a health and economic perspective; investing in infrastructure related to water, sewer, and broadband; providing services to those who were hardest hit by the pandemic; and replacing lost public sector funds that would have caused cuts to government services. (Note: the funds cannot be used to reduce taxes or go into pension funds.)
3. More than half of the funding in the southwestern Connecticut region is proposed to go toward infrastructure investments, particularly stormwater infrastructure to address flooding issues.
4. School districts get their own separate ARPA allocations, but municipalities have proposed to use at least $20 million from their funding to make improvements on school properties, including upgraded HVAC systems.
5. At least $13 million is proposed to go to local businesses and nonprofits to help them recover from the pandemic and support their work in the community.
   

Learn more about the funding plans for the region.