Waukesha County is helping residents, businesses and organizations recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The County has received federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to provide direct relief to help the community return to normal, recover economically, and protect our families.
As part of the reporting requirements of the funding, a Recovery Plan Performance Report must be reported annually to the US Treasury and made available to public. This Recovery Plan provides information on the County’s obligated projects and how the County plans to invest funds in the future to meet funding criteria and ensure program outcomes are effectively and equitably achieved.
View Waukesha County's Recovery Plan
How Recovery Funds Can be Spent
Waukesha County has established Recovery Goals and Criteria to use these funds to rebuild and invest in the community.
In addition to these criteria, all recovery spending must be compliant with state and federal requirements.
- Permissible uses of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding includes supporting public health; responding to negative economic impacts from the public health emergency; provide premium pay for essential workers; investing in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure; and support of general County government services.
Waukesha County is committed to transparency. This website will be updated regularly with information and reports on the use of ARPA funds.
County Recovery Goals and Criteria
Waukesha County will use recovery funds to rebuild and invest in the community in alignment with what residents want: a safe, economically vibrant community with a high quality of life and low taxes. To do this, the County has developed a set of criteria to help prioritize where recovery dollars will go.
- Direct COVID relief: Many families and businesses have had their lives impacted by COVID through lost wages, decreased business, or increased costs. Relief funds that can provide targeted relief will be highly prioritized by the County.
- Return on Investment (ROI): Projects that have the ability to create a positive impact beyond their initial investment will have longer lasing benefits to the community. ROI can be measured through productivity, efficiency, cost savings, or financial returns.
- Economic development and recovery: Although the funds we are receiving must be spent in a relatively short timeframe, we want to ensure that they will benefit the community for many years to come.
- Job Creation: Job creation is a key component to economic development and recovery. We want to put our residents to work while attracting new residents to the area.
- Speed: COVID relief funds must be spent within 3.5 years, so we are only looking at projects and programs that can be completed in that timeframe.
- Partnerships and collaboration: One of the ways we can make your dollar stretch farther is by working with businesses and organizations who are already implementing the projects that would benefit our community as a whole. Whenever possible, Waukesha County utilizes partnerships so the work we’re doing can be done quickly, efficiently, and by local experts.
- Qualified Capital Expenditures and Programming: Infrastructure investments that would enhance service delivery and public safety.
- Transparency: It is important that residents understand which programs and projects are being funded and why. We want you to know how we are investing in the County’s future.
- Widespread benefits: Waukesha County will prioritize projects that will have the greatest impact on the community as a whole.
- Competitiveness: Proposals that can demonstrate their ability to be successful in our community over other options will be given higher priority.
- Leveraging other funding: Projects that can be complemented through utilizing partnerships, or additional state or local funding sources will be given higher priority.
