State of Maryland Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP) – Resources and Information
In June 2021, the Maryland Department of Budget and Management (DBM) launched a Technical Assistance Program to support Non-Entitlement Units (NEUs) of Local Government with their management and administration of their Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CLFRF) awards. In October 2022, DBM alerted participating municipalities that the Technical Assistance Program would expand to serve all Maryland municipalities and assist them with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, in addition to maintaining CLFRF support. For more information on IIJA-specific technical assistance, please reference the IIJA Resources page.
The main objective of the Technical Assistance Program is to strengthen Maryland municipalities’ capacity to successfully plan and implement these resources by helping them understand the eligibility, reporting, and compliance requirements associated with CLFRF and IIJA programs. This landing page gathers and summarizes guidance and resources made available by the State of Maryland as well as guidance published by the US Treasury Department and other Federal Agencies. Please check back for regular programmatic updates.
Have questions?
If you have any questions specific to how your community can use CLFRF or IIJA funding, please use the Question Submission Portal to submit it to MTAP and someone from our team will follow up with specific guidance.
Check out MTAP's IIJA Resources Page here!
MTAP Services
MTAP Fund Mapping Service
The MTAP team is providing a fund mapping service to match IIJA funding streams with municipalities' interests. Municipalities can submit information through the Project Intake Form on infrastructure projects or priorities and receive tailored information on relevant IIJA programs.
If your organization has additional questions or would like to better understand how the Project Intake Form works, please submit a question through our Question Portal or contact our team at arpa.neuadmin@maryland.gov. For more information on IIJA, please refer to MTAP’s Introduction to IIJA Webinar and visit the IIJA Resources page.
MTAP Question Submission Portal
If you have any questions specific to how your community can use CLFRF or IIJA funding, please use the Question Submission Portal to submit it to MTAP and someone from our team will follow up with specific guidance.
Office Hours Program
The State is hosting office hours to provide Maryland municipalities with an additional channel to ask questions, connect with other municipal governments, or submit feedback. The Maryland Municipal Technical Assistance team will be available during Office Hours to answer any questions you may have related to CLFRF or IIJA.
The next Office Hours session will be held on Tuesday, December 12th from 10:00am - 11:00am EST.
Please note that moving forward, we will be transitioning from our current weekly schedule to a monthly cadence, with office hours held on the first Tuesday of the month.
Join with Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/pvs-ismv-jeh
Or dial: (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 538 506 455 6294#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/pvs-ismv-jeh?pin=5385064556294&hs=7
Webinar Program
The Municipal Technical Assistance Team hosts informational webinars on CLFRF and IIJA on a variety of topics. Please click here to access past webinar materials, including recordings and copies of the presentations. If you have suggestions for new topics, please use the question submission portal link to submit recommendations.
Additional MTAP Resources
- IIJA Resources: MTAP's IIJA Resources page is your one-stop-shop for IIJA! It includes open and upcoming funding opportunities through our Fund Mapping Service for municipalities, links to prior webinars, third party and federal technical assistance resources, and more.
- MTAP Newsletter: See past issues and subscribe to our newsletter here.
- SLFRF Compliance Supplement: This document outlines applicability for Maryland NEUs of the April 2022 compliance supplemental document released by the U.S. Treasury.
- Quick Reference Guide: This quick reference guide provides an overview for NEUs to distinguish between sub-recipients, beneficiaries, and contractors.
Additional United States Department of the Treasury Resources
Treasury’s 2023 Interim Final Rule
On August 10, 2023 Treasury released an updated Interim Final Rule (IFR) for CLFRF. This new update adds three eligibility categories that allow for substantial additional flexibility and does not modify any of the prior expenditure categories contained in the Final Rule (i.e., any previously eligible activities remain eligible).
For recipients that elected the standard allowance and are designating their full award under this expenditure category, there are no changes included in the new IFR other than that the standard allowance provision can now be selected through the April 2025 reporting period. Additionally, the three new expenditure categories included in the new IFR are also eligible under the revenue loss provision.
The three new Expenditure Categories are:
1. Relief for Natural Disasters - The IFR provides a framework for using SLFRF funds to provide emergency relief from natural disasters or their negative economic impacts. Recipients must first identify a natural disaster that has occurred or is expected to occur imminently, as declared by either the federal or state government, or that can justifiably be expected to occur in the future, and then identify emergency relief. The emergency relief must be related and reasonably proportional to the impact identified.
2. Surface Transportation - The IFR provides a framework for using SLFRF funds for surface transportation projects. This funding can be used first, as supplements for projects receiving Department of Transportation (DOT) funding, second, as match for certain designated surface transportation projects or to repay a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan, and third, those not receiving funding from DOT but which would be eligible for RAISE grants or for which a framework has been agreed with Treasury.
3. Title I Projects - The IFR outlines how recipients may use SLFRF funds to invest in community development activities that are eligible under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The eligible activities under the Title I projects eligible use category are broad and enable recipients to undertake a wide range of community development projects. Ineligible activities under CDBG are also ineligible for SLFRF funding under this expenditure category.
Click here to view a copy of Treasury's Frequently asked Questions. FAQs in this document pertain to the Interim Final Rule (IFR), which is in effect until April 1, 2022. Treasury anticipates issuing FAQs for the Final Rule at a later date.
