TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The Leon County Commission discussed the distribution of its CARES Act funding. County staff laid out a plan in a presentation at the end of the County’s budget workshop on Tuesday morning.
The County divided the funding into three categories:
- Public Health, Safety, and Compliance: $18.2 million (35%)
- Individual, Community, and Small Business Assistance: $22.9 million (45%)
- Reserve/Replenishment Account: $10 million (20%)
Public Health Response
The County will dedicate $6.1 million to the category of “public health response.”
That includes additional community testing, with a focus on high-risk areas, and an additional 1,200 tests per week (a 45% increase). The plan also includes more funding for contact tracing, with an additional 600 case investigations per week.
The County will use $3.1 million of funding for future additional community testing sites and reimburse its primary health care partners for PPE and cleaning procedures.
Government Response and Compliance
$12.1 million is allocated for “government response and compliance.”
Under that category, the City of Tallahassee receives $5 million for PPE and teleworking equipment. Constitutional and judicial offices will receive $2.1 million to use for vote-by-mail expenses, courtroom technology, and detention center modifications. The Leon County Government will receive $5 million for facility improvements, PPE, teleworking equipment, and non-congregate homeless sheltering.
Individual, Community, and Small Business Assistance
The Individual Assistance Program will have $7.5 million for distribution. County staff said that would be used as critical support for up to 3,000 low-income households experiencing financial hardship related to COVID-19. They could receive up to $3,000 in a one-time assistance payment. Staff said the major goal is keeping people in their homes.
The County also plans to use the funding to target food insecurity, using $3.3 million to partner with Second Harvest of the Big Bend. That funding will create new and expanded programs in child nutrition, senior grocery, and mobile feeding, allowing for the distribution of 3 million meals.
$2 million will go to organizations that provide local human services assistance. 100 of those groups could receive up to $20,000 in a one-time assistance payment, for programmatic and operational expenses due to COVID, including legal services, temporary shelter, equipment, and PPE.
The County will dedicate $1 million to homelessness support, for local emergency shelter providers, including the Kearney Center, Hope Community, Capital City Youth Services, and Refuge House. That funding can be used for facility modifications to prevent the spread and outbreak of COVID-19.
$920,000 will be used for a partnership with the Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend for childcare support. The childcare vouchers would be for certain essential services workers (most of whom have not been included in previous vouchers), including food service and grocery store employees. They could receive five months of childcare assistance, from August to December.
2-1-1 Big Bend will receive $100,000 for continued mental health services. According to County staff, that hotline has seen a 33% increase in suicide call volume, when comparing January through May of 2019 to January through May of 2020. It will also fund two more mental health triage specialists.
The County is also creating a new Small Business Assistance Program with $6 million of grant funding, similar to the past Blueprint CEDR grant program. The new program would have base awards from $1,500 to $6,000, based on the number of employees.
While the previous Blueprint program only included businesses with up to 50 employees, the program funded by the CARES Act distribution would include businesses with up to 100 employees. It could provide financial support for up to 3,100 businesses.
Under the Small Business Assistance Program, some businesses could also receive supplemental awards of up to $500 each. Categories include “hardest hit” businesses, Minority/Women-owned small businesses, and “rebounding” businesses. The rebounding category is for businesses hiring two or more new individuals.
An amendment to Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley’s motion by Commissioner Nick Maddox took $1.5 million from the $10 million reserve fund to increase the bonus for MWSB businesses from $500 to $1,500, with the stipulation that if the funds are not expended, they can return to the reserve account.
Local Chambers of Commerce will receive $300,000 for restart, relaunch, and reopen trainings.
Reserve/Replenishment Account
County staff recommended $10 million of funding held out for future, unanticipated needs, including potential changes in federal guidance; the total of the reserve fund decided by Commissioners was actually $8.5 million because they added to the MWSB bonuses.
The reserve funding can also be used for the replenishment of existing program categories.
An October agenda item will suggest any new uses for the funding.
Ernst & Young Consulting Services
The County has set aside $1.1 million to hire Ernst & Young Consulting to administer and distribute the CARES Act funding.
County Staff says they anticipate more than 6,100 individual assistance program applications.
Next Steps and Timeline
County staff says the next steps include ongoing coordination with FDEM.
They hope to launch the individual and small business assistance in mid-August.
The County will also create a Leon CARES promotion campaign to inform the public about the opportunities and execute the sub-grantee agreements (including Second Harvest and 2-1-1 Big Bend) in the next five to ten days.
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