Gov. Beshear: Kentucky to Receive more than $2.1 Billion from American Rescue Plan Act

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WYMT) - On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced that the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund will grant Kentucky $2.183 billion. This money will have a lower allotment than the previous state estimate due to the positive economic performance.

The allocations announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury were based directly on the number of unemployed individuals from October to December of 2020. Based on Kentucky’s improvement in this area, the estimate is lowered from $2.441 billion to $2.183 billion.

“Our economy is surging and strong,” Gov. Beshear said. “We are in a strong position to sprint out of this pandemic with continued positive economic indicators and with this funding that will create jobs, momentum and a better quality of life in every corner of the commonwealth.”

Kentucky will soon be requesting funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

This final allocation will not affect the bipartisan agreement which will use 1.3 million to boost the state’s economy, expanding broadband, delivering clean drinking water and building new schools. The plan is expected to create more than 14,500 new jobs.

The state’s economy is also expecting to strengthen after April 21′s report of record-breaking sales and motor vehicle usage taxes, with sales tax at an all-time monthly high. April sales tax receipts were 40% higher than last April.

Collections of sales tax which show last month’s sales have risen 9.5% percent over 10 months of fiscal year 2021.

The new money will be added to the current fiscal year’s general fund. This puts Kentucky on track to have $1 billion in Kentucky’s “rainy day fund” to end the current fiscal year-the most money in this fund in Kentucky’s history.

The Governor also announced that Fitch Ratings improved their financial outlook to stable because of the solid recovery after the pandemic compared to others. This rating highlighted Kentucky’s significant recovery from March until now.

Beshear also announced the introduction of 270 economic development projects that will create 8,000 new jobs. The average pay for each of those jobs is the highest it has been in years. Support for these new projects is funded by the $124 million in investment.

Site selection magazine has officially ranked Kentucky’s Governor’s Cup at the top of the South Central region and 3rd nationally. Kentucky is reported to be the highest of any state under 5 million residence.