The American Rescue Plan Act will award Tompkins County with $20 million and the City of Ithaca with $17 million. But the question remains about how to spend it.
There are usage restrictions set forth by the federal government. The money can be used for directly responding to the public health emergency in the form of assistance to households, small businesses or impacted industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality; responding to workers performing essential work during the public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers; providing government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to COVID-19; and making investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.