Under a revised CARES Act spending plan, the borough has $134,989 left to use before the end of the year. The question before the assembly is what to do with the remaining funds.
The CARES Act, a federal coronavirus relief package passed this spring, gave money to state and local governments for costs incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic between March and December of 2020. Haines received roughly $4 million.
On Tuesday, the assembly approved revisions to the CARES Act spending plan to reflect the actual costs of various CARES Act-funded projects and grant programs the borough has administered. These included lowering the allocation for addressing the backlog in driver’s license road tests from $15,000 to $6,727, increasing funding for the individual grant program to $768,000 and reducing $100,000 set aside for morgue renovations to $25,000 to reflect the reduced scope of the project.
At Tuesday’s meeting, borough officials discussed best uses for the remaining funds, circling back to the idea that those with the greatest need should come first.
“My understanding was that the people that were most affected be the ones we’re serving first, as far as being out of work, businesses that didn’t open, employees that didn’t go back to work because the businesses didn’t open,” Mayor Douglas Olerud said.
Assembly members agreed.
“It’s important that we seriously consider any leftover funds for those people who can’t afford to pay their fuel bills, who can’t afford to put food on the table, who can’t go get the medical treatment they need to get because it isn’t possible for them to travel at this point in time,” assembly member Paul Rogers said, acknowledging that it may be difficult to determine where the need is greatest.
At a CARES Act ad hoc committee meeting last week, members said they plan to reach out to local organizations including the Salvation Army and the Haines Senior Center to get a better sense of community needs.
On Tuesday, Olerud ended the CARES Act discussion with a plea for community input.
“If any assembly members have any thoughts, ideas, if any community members that are listening have any thoughts or ideas on this, please get them to me, get them to the interim manager, so we have as much information before us when we have our final meeting and decide what we want to do,” Olerud said.
If, for whatever reason, the assembly is unable to find a way to spend the remaining funds, the borough will find a way to use them, interim manager Alekka Fullerton said at last week’s CARES Act ad hoc committee meeting.
“There’s not ever going to be a situation where we’re going to have to give money back because we could always apply it toward borough payroll in the pre-certified areas of dispatch, police and fire,” Fullerton said. “We have blanket approval from the federal government to do that.” Funding a greater portion of these services using the CARES Act would free up borough funds for other uses, she said.
The CARES Act ad hoc committee meets next on Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m.