Households with a total income of $70,000 or less may soon be eligible for $500 grants per person. The Haines Borough Assembly’s CARES Act ad hoc committee and Commerce Committee began work on the grant program for individuals during a joint meeting on Tuesday to discuss distribution of roughly $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief.
Other recommendations made by the Commerce Committee and CARES Act ad hoc committee at Tuesday’s meeting include: doubling grant amounts, up to a $10,000 cap, for businesses and nonprofits that applied for the borough’s COVID-19 relief program; an economic stimulus program that gives $100 in gift cards for every $300 an individual spends on nonessential purchases in town; $500 grants for commercial fishermen holding limited entry permits; and $1,000 grants for businesses started this year, prior to March 1 that can provide proof of expenditures.
The Bookstore owner Amy Kane didn’t open until March 1 and she’s been ineligible for relief until recently. The state has expanded its guidelines and Kane has reapplied for state funding. She says $1,000 from the borough will make it hard for her to get through the winter.
“One thousand dollars is great, but not when it’s all that you’re getting,” Kane said. “That covers March rent when I was forced to close.”
Haines is slated to receive a total of $4 million in COVID-19 relief this year through the federal CARES Act. To date, the assembly has approved a spending plan for roughly half of these funds, ranging from tests for asymptomatic travelers from within Alaska to the purchase of a new ambulance.
The individual grant program proposed at Tuesday’s meeting was based on the $1,000 household grant program previously approved by the assembly. Committee members suggested refinements to the program to more effectively target Haines residents with the greatest economic need.
At Tuesday’s meeting, assembly member Brenda Josephson said she worried the previously approved household grants gave preference to residences with fewer people because the award was the same, regardless of number of inhabitants. The committees supported Josephson’s proposal to give additional funds for every additional adult or child living at the residence under the new program.
Unlike the previously approved household grant program, which was open to any household negatively impacted by the pandemic, the proposed individual grant program would be limited to households that collectively make $70,000 or less. Households that fall into this category would be eligible for both the $500 individual grant program and the $1,000 household grant program.
The $70,000 limit was based on a recommendation from interim manager and borough clerk Alekka Fullerton, who said she was concerned CARES Act funds hadn’t done enough for those with the greatest need. Committee members agreed to limit grants to households at or below the median income for Haines.
The household grant program was relatively easy to process since applications were based on address, but giving grants to individuals would create additional verification challenges for borough staff responsible for processing applications.
At Tuesday’s meeting, chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart said she had concerns about the borough’s ability to verify the number of people living at a residence. A person could claim 18 children and it would be difficult for staff to disprove, she said.
The committees determined that state PFD data could be used to verify questionable household claims. Haines residents who moved to the community before March 1, but too late to receive a PFD tied to their Haines address, will have the option to verify residency using their state driver license or another form of proof.
Committee members determined the program needs additional work before it goes before the full assembly for approval after they were unable to resolve the question of how to distribute the funds. Options considered included pre-prepaid credit cards and vouchers, but these were complicated by a reluctance to give a percentage of CARES Act funds to banking institutions and the difficulty of preventing fraud, respectively.
Committee members recommended borough staff work with the Haines Chamber of Commerce to come up with a distribution proposal.
The recommendations will go before the full assembly for approval Aug. 25.
The CARES Act ad hoc committee meets next on Sept. 2 to discuss a child care assistance program and to finalize the individual grant program proposal.