Lake County to Receive $135 Million from American Rescue Plan Recovery Funds, Cook County to Receive $1 Billion

WASHINGTON – Today, the Treasury Department announced local funding allocations for its Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. The program, funded through the American Rescue Plan, will allocate $135 million to the Lake County government and $1 billion to the Cook County government.

The below governments are considered metropolitan cities by the Treasury Department and are allocated to receive the following funding:

• Waukegan: $19.7 million,
• Des Plaines: $7.8 million
• Mount Prospect: $7.0 million
• North Chicago $6.2 million

All other municipalities will receive federal funding dispersed via the state as a passthrough. Treasury expects to provide further guidance on distributions to non-entitlement units in the coming days.

"Our county, city and village governments have been on the frontlines of battling the COVID-19 pandemic, and today's funding through the American Rescue Plan preserves the employees and services we are counting on to dig us out of the rest of this crisis. My hope is that with this funding, our local governments will continue funding our first responders, teachers and other essential workers who we count on every day." said Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10).

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provide substantial flexibility for each jurisdiction to meet local needs—including support for households, small businesses, impacted industries, essential workers, and the communities hardest-hit by the crisis. Within the categories of eligible uses listed, recipients have broad flexibility to decide how best to use this funding to meet the needs of their communities. In addition to allowing for flexible spending up to the level of their revenue loss, recipients can use funds to:

• Support public health expenditures, by – among other uses – funding COVID-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, mental health and substance misuse treatment and certain public health and safety personnel responding to the crisis;
• Address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency, including by rehiring public sector workers, providing aid to households facing food, housing or other financial insecurity, offering small business assistance, and extending support for industries hardest hit by the crisis
• Aid the communities and populations hardest hit by the crisis, supporting an equitable recovery by addressing not only the immediate harms of the pandemic, but its exacerbation of longstanding public health, economic and educational disparities
• Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have borne and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service during the pandemic; and,
• Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, improving access to clean drinking water, supporting vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and expanding access to broadband internet.

The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds will create jobs and help fuel a strong recovery.

For an overview of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program including an expanded use of eligible uses, see the fact sheet released today. For additional details on the state, local, territorial, and Tribal government allocations, see the full list here.

For more information, visit Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds on Treasury.gov.