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Instructions and Links to Apply
 CARES Act funding is now available to cities, towns, and counties outside of Utah and Salt Lake Counties. For cities and towns in those two counties, funds will be accessed through the county. As a brief reminder, of the $562 million available to local governments from the CARES Act, Salt Lake County received a direct allocation of $203 million and Utah County received an $111 million allocation solely based on their population exceeding a threshold of 500,000 people. This leaves $247 million for the State to allocate to local governments to non budgeted “necessary expenditures” directly related COVID-19.
For cities, towns and counties outside of Salt Lake and Utah County, you can access the funds by completing the agreement on the GOMB website located here. The State is encouraging an electronic signature to speed up the process. To see an example of the reporting requirements, click here.
Funding for your city or town will be done in three tranches. The first tranche is available now. The remaining two distributions could go out later in the summer and in early fall. To help you better plan for utilization of these funds please refer to this distribution page here. Please note, the first tranche of funding is based on population. The State may distribute the remaining two tranches using population or may adjust depending on impacts and needs. ULCT will be continue to be heavily involved in discussions around the formula and distribution. Your final distribution amount could vary from the current distribution estimates.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
The U.S. Treasury Department issued guidance and FAQs clarifying that medical, public health, payroll for employees dedicated to COVID-19 management, compliance costs, and economic support and revitalization are all allowable expenses for CARES Act funds. Funds cannot cover lost revenue, budget shortfalls, damages, payroll (for employees not dedicated to COVID-19), severance pay, or workforce bonuses (some exceptions).
For the full guidance please visit here.
For the most recent FAQs please visit here.
To understand how the State is currently appropriating its CARES Act funds please visit here.
The League held a town hall on Monday, June 1st, with officials from the Governor's Office of Management and Budget and State Auditor's Office explained how our cities will be able to apply for funds, as well as which COVID-related costs will qualify. Salt Lake and Utah County officials also shared the criteria for accessing funds to help cover COVID costs in our cities and towns. If you missed that discussion, we encourage you to review it. If can be seen here.
At the League we have received a lot of feedback about the ambiguity with some of the guidance. For example, one question on Monday was about whether interlocal agencies could receive funds. ULCT staff answered the question but now have more context. While only cities, towns, and counties will receive dollars directly from the state, the cities, towns, and counties could subgrant their dollars to interlocal agencies who meet the federal criteria of “necessary expenditures.” ULCT continues to ask questions of the Treasury Department to ensure that we are clear about how you can spend the money. As more information becomes available we will distribute it as quickly as possible.
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