Jefferson County is poised to receive about $1.75 million in coronavirus relief funds from the federal CARES Act.
The City of Port Townsend will receive $288,000 in coronavirus relief funding. But government officials say this is just a drop in the bucket of what they will need to offset dramatic reductions in revenue that will have rippling economic effects.
The money will not come as a lump sum, but as reimbursement for coronavirus-related costs incurred from March 1 through Oct. 31.
It can be used to reimburse expenses for an array of things related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including public health expenses and payroll.
Local governments must show the reimbursements they request meet several criteria, said Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro. The costs must be unanticipated and directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reimbursements cannot be used to alleviate revenue shortfalls.
Municipalities were allocated funding based on population and the impact COVID-19 has on the community.
According to county administrator Philip Morley, the county government predicts a $965,000 shortfall in general fund revenue in 2020 and a $1.25 million shortfall in 2021. One revenue stream that will be greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic is sales tax.
Morley said the county expects June and July sales tax revenue to be down 40%.
The budget shortfall predictions only cover incoming revenue, not the extra costs the county has incurred since the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order went into effect.
Some costs could be reimbursed by the coronavirus relief fund, but it is unlikely that all will.
“$1.75 million sounds like a lot of money, but when you start teeing up all the costs and impacts this is having on the community, it’s woefully inadequate,” Morley said.
Mauro echoed the sentiment.
“It’s a good start to help us with immediate COVID-19 response, and a really great gesture from the governor to each jurisdiction,” Mauro said, “but it pales in comparison to what will be needed from the federal government for our community to respond, recover and build resilience.”
Mauro said the city is coordinating with the county about how to allocate the funds.
In the next few weeks, former DCD director Patty Charnas, who has been reassigned as the head of the county’s financial response to the pandemic, will wade through the CARES Act legislation and information provided by the Department of Commerce to determine the best way for the county to use the funds.
“The coronavirus relief fund is just one funding stream within the CARES Act,” Morley said. “There are other dedicated funding streams that provide funding directly to other community needs, for example funding for hospitals and schools.”
At a meeting with Charnas May 18, commissioners expressed their desire to use the money to help the broader community as well as covering costs for the county.
The biggest challenge for county officials is to determine which coronavirus-related expenditures can be funded by various sources.
“One of the real difficulties here, particularly given how broadly the coronavirus relief fund can be used, is how does that marry up to all the other funding sources both within CARES Act and within other funding sources, such as the CDC?” Morley said. “Where are the gaps? We don’t have a very good picture of that at this point. We’re trying to just begin analyzing what are potentially eligible expenditures within the county for reimbursement under the coronavirus relief fund.”
Jefferson County officials are not the only ones waiting for more information. County representatives across the state noted their frustration with the lack of information surrounding the CARES Act funding at a virtual meeting of the Washington State Association of Counties May 11.
“As we are participating in calls statewide, pretty much everybody is still figuring this out,” Morley said.
There is also a short window of time to submit invoices for reimbursements from the coronavirus relief fund, he said. Under the federal law and treasury guidelines, reimbursements must be made by Dec. 31. But the state is the fiscal agent for the funding stream, and has set an earlier deadline of Oct. 31 for expenditures through the end of October, Morley said.
Right now, county officials are working to understand which categories of expenditures are eligible for reimbursement. In the coming weeks, the Board of County Commissioners will decide how the money is spent.
“Ultimately it’s going to be a decision of the Board of County Commissioners,” Morley said. “It will be a policy call of how to prioritize between competing needs.”
The county also has opportunity to receive up to 75% reimbursement for expenditures related to disaster relief from FEMA’s Stafford Act.
“There’s a grey area there because the Stafford Act is generally geared toward physical emergencies and disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes,” Morley said. “It’s very rarely been used for disease.”
It’s hard to determine if costs related to the need for social distancing during the pandemic are eligible for FEMA funding.
