The Maryland Department of Budget and Management has issued new guidance to counties regarding the uses and timing of federal funds issued through the CARES Act – notably an extension through 2021 for its continued use.

With the federal relief legislation passed, and finally signed into law by the President, the final pieces of implementation (mainly at the State level) have fallen into place. Namely, the State has issued its revised guidance for the spending deadline for these federal dollars – which had been looming at December 30 prior to the newest actions.

From the DBM guidance, released on December 28:

Governor Hogan has decided to extend the deadline for local governments to spend funding received from the State to correspond with the new federal deadline. The State will require you to sign an
addendum agreeing to extend the terms of the current agreement.

Failure to sign such an addendum will require your county to return all unspent funds as of December 30, 2020 by April 1, 2021.

The “agreement” references a document signed by counties to indemnify the State in the event that locally designated spending is later revealed to be out of compliance with limitations from the US Department of Treasury – a breakthrough that allowed relatively rapid deployment of funds to and through counties in Maryland.

Read the full DBM letter for more details on reporting obligations that will continue under the extended use deadline.