Thanks to the passage of the federal American Rescue Plan (ARP), some $8.5 billion is flowing to the state of Minnesota, as well as local and tribal governments. These resources provide a historic opportunity to support Minnesotans, their families, and their communities as we continue to respond to and recover from the health and economic challenges caused by the COVID pandemic.
State and local decision-makers have already made decisions about how some of these dollars will be used, and some decisions are yet to be made by state legislators, county boards, city councils, and other local bodies.
Many Minnesotans are interested in where these funds are going and how they are being used. This page outlines several resources to help you find more specific information about the three primary types of ARP funding going to state and local governments:
- Local Fiscal Recovery Fund: $2.1 billion in flexible aid to local governments
- State Fiscal Recovery Fund: $2.8 billion in flexible aid to the state
- Federal Program Funds: $3.5 billion in program-specific funding, which must be used on more specific purposes (such as Medicaid)
The two fiscal recovery funds for state and local governments are fairly flexible, but the ARP puts some requirements on their use. The U.S. Treasury SLFRF (State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds) program updates contain the rules on how state and local ARP funds can be used.
Local Fiscal Recovery Fund
Local recovery funds are flexible funds going to city, county, and township governments. Depending on the size of the locality, some payments went directly to local governments, and some were distributed by the state according to a federal formula. For a very high-level overview of what these funds can be used for and information on which cities received direct payments, visit Minnesota Management and Budget’s ARP portal.
To look up how much of the $2.1 billion in Local Fiscal Recovery Funds have been distributed to each locality, use the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund Distribution Reports.
State Fiscal Recovery Fund
In 2021, state policymakers decided on three broad uses for the state’s $2.8 billion in fiscal recovery funding.
- $1.2 billion is being used for “revenue replacement.” This means that $633 million of services in the state budget in the FY 2022-23 budget cycle and $550 million in FY 2024-25 are funded by flexible ARP dollars.
- Governor Tim Walz has discretion over $500 million in “Immediate COVID response” funds.
- $1.2 billion will be allocated in the 2022 Legislative Session. Of this amount, $250 million was set aside for payments to frontline workers. However, policymakers have not yet reached agreement on how to distribute these funds.
There is a significant amount of information available regarding the use of the Immediate COVID response fund. For detailed information about the dollar amounts allocated to specific programs and services, see the MMB ARP portal or MMB’s monthly reports distributed to the Legislative COVID-19 Response Commission.
The pie chart below demonstrates the broad categories of services that have received funding from this fund.
For further details regarding the State Fiscal Recovery fund dollars, MMB’s Checkbook tool is an excellent resource. See details below on what information you can find on the Checkbook platform and how to navigate it.
Additional information will be added to this page as policymakers make additional ARP funding decisions.
Additional resource for State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds
The annual Recovery Plan Performance Report gives details on how the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund ARP dollars being used. Use these reports to get more detailed information on programs being funded.
Federal Program Funds
To understand the broad purposes for the more specific federal program funds, MMB’s ARP portal includes information on how much funding is coming to Minnesota for initiatives under the categories of:
- supporting working families,
- ensuring students catch up on learning, and
- supporting small businesses and driving economic recovery.
MMB’s Minnesota Checkbook tool
If you want to dig deeper into available information about the ARP dollars coming to Minnesota, you can find details such as which state agencies received funding, and where payments are going, such as specific school districts, on MMB’s COVID-19 Checkbook platform. The Checkbook platform includes information on federal dollars from multiple avenues coming into Minnesota, including the State Fiscal Recovery Fund.
MMB has created a short video explaining how to use the platform. We also created an infographic in the attached PDF to help you navigate the site. And if some of the terms on the Checkbook are new to you, check out MMB’s handy glossary.