The Oakland County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution accepting $219 million in funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act at its meeting on April 29. The funding, which was determined based on Oakland County's population, can be used on "expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019," according to the legislation.
The expenditures must be related to items that were not accounted for in the county's budget and must have been incurred from March 1, 2020 to December 30, 2020.
"This pandemic has hit all of our communities hard and fast," Commissioner Helaine Zack (D-Huntington Woods) said. "We need to help residents, families and businesses with more public health testing and resources in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. The CARES Act grant gets us closer to providing that support."
Examples of eligible expenditures include expenses associated with economic support in connection with the COVID-19 public health emergency, expenses of actions to facilitate compliance with COVID-19-related public health measures, public health expenses, medical expenses and payroll expenses for county employees whose services are substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the pandemic.
"We stand ready to do whatever needs to be done to protect residents and help our small businesses," Chairman David T. Woodward (D-Royal Oak) said. "These federal COVID-19 relief funds are critical to support the public health to manage this pandemic, the financial security of our residents and the recovery of our economy."
The county's Small Business Stabilization Fund, which provides grants for companies impacted by the coronavirus health emergency, received $12 million from the CARES Act funding.
For additional information about the Board of Commissioners, visit www.oakgov.com/boc or call 248-858-0100.
Published: Mon, May 04, 2020
