Lauderdale County and the City of Meridian will receive millions of dollars from the federal government under the recently passed COVID-19 relief bill.

On March 11, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law. The bill provides direct payments of $1,400 to many Americans.

It will also provide aid to state and local governments, give aid to schools, expand COVID-19 testing and bring about other measures, according to the Associated Press.

The bill allocates $195.3 billion for state governments and the District of Columbia, according to a congressional fact sheet.

The final allocations for states have not yet been published, but preliminary estimates indicate that the state of Mississippi would be allocated $1.81 billion.

According to Mississippi Today, the Mississippi Legislature will use the funding primarily to replace revenue the state lost because of the pandemic, for COVID-19 related costs and for water, sewer and broadband.

In addition to providing funding at the state level, the American Rescue Plan will also allocate a total of $130.2 billion for city and county governments in the U.S., according to the fact sheet.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has published preliminary estimates of the allocations. The committee noted that the numbers are approximate and may contain data irregularities.

The estimate of Lauderdale County’s allocation is $14.38 million.

Lauderdale County Supervisor Joe Norwood, who represents District 4, said the guidelines on how the relief funding can be used have not yet been issued.

“We’re just waiting on the federal government to issue guidelines on the ARP money,” Norwood said in March. 

Estimates of the ARP allocations for local counties and municipalities are below.

Lauderdale County

Lauderdale County: $14.38 million

Marion: $337,087

Meridian: $8.2 million

Neshoba County

Neshoba County: $5.65 million

Philadelphia: $1.60 milion

Kemper County

Kemper County: $1.89 million

DeKalb: $227,054

Newton County

Newton County: $4.08 million

Chunky: $71,025

Decatur: $384,437

Hickory: $119,277

Newton: $711,377

Union: $427,728

Clarke County

Clarke County: $3.01 million

Quitman: $475,980