MADERA — At their regular meeting Tuesday (July 14), Madera County supervisors unanimously approved a plan to spend $16.25 million in federal coronavirus relief funding. County Administrative Officer Jay Varney and Finance Director Joel Bugay led the effort to secure the emergency funding, which is designated for counties hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the spending plan approved by supervisors today, about $9.8 million in federal funding will go toward “pandemic response” — especially for businesses and other entities that have already incurred losses since the pandemic began in March. Some of the $9.8 million will also go to those expecting to be impacted between now and the end of the year.
According to the spending plan, the lionshare of federal funding will go to three basic areas:
- County personnel actively engaged in emergency and pandemic response activities including contact tracing, emergency operations, testing, public information and other public health and public safety functions
- Purchase of services and supplies (PPEs, cleaning products) related to pandemic response
- Grants to pandemic response partners, which could include the cities,
hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers
Supervisors also set aside $5 million for “community” assistance to small businesses and nonprofits — and $1.25 million for financial aid to “government services” impacted by COVID.
