May municipalities use funds from the CARES Act CRF or the ARP CLFRF to support administrative hiring costs (including immigration paperwork and filing fees) related to personnel who were hired for and are funded by COVID-19 grants?

Neither the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP”) legislative text nor the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (“Treasury”) Final Rule on the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (“CSLFRF”) specifically defines administrative cost allowances for CSLFRF. While administrative costs and technical assistance are listed as eligible uses in the Final Rule,[1]  it does not specifically reference administrative hiring costs, such as immigration paperwork and filing fees, and whether they might be considered under such administrative costs is not entirely certain. 

The Final Rule includes the costs related to rehiring of local government staff as an eligible use, including payroll, covered benefits, and other costs associated with rehiring public sector staff, up to the pre-pandemic staffing level of the government,[2] and allows funds used to be spent on ancillary administrative costs related to administering CSLFRF-funded hiring programs.[3] Ancillary administrative costs can include “costs to publish job postings, review applications, and onboard and train new hires.”[4]

Last Revised: March 7, 2022