Columbus projected to get nearly $80M in federal COVID aid. What will it be used for?
Columbus’ Consolidated Government should receive close to $80 million in aid under the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package signed into law by President Joe Biden last week.
Estimates from the National Association of Counties and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s office show Columbus is expected to receive more than $79.5 million. Under the legislation, Columbus’ consolidated structure allows it to receive funding from pools of money designated for cities as well as counties.
The nearly $80 million is about eight times more than what the city received in coronavirus aid from last year’s CARES Act. The funds will be a big help, said Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson.
“It means a lot,” he said. “There’s been so much money the government has had to spend just to continue to provide basic services.”
How will the money help Columbus?
Under the American Rescue Plan, roughly $350 billion has been earmarked for state and local governments to offset lost revenue, increase spending and counterbalance the economic harm brought on by the pandemic.
Georgia is set to receive a total of $8.4 billion. The estimates include amounts going to local government and capital projects. The funds must be used by Dec. 31, 2024, and state and local governments are required to report how the funds are spent.
One of the most important measures in the new plan allows for local governments to use the funds to replace lost revenue caused by the pandemic, Henderson said.
While the Wall Street Journal reports tax revenue in states didn’t suffer the major declines some projected, Henderson said Columbus spent a lot of money to provide services during the pandemic.
Police and firefighter overtime has been a major cost. The city’s police force had 30 to 40 officers out at a time due to COVID-19. The coronavirus kept 40 firefighters out of work for a period. The city saw its hotel motel tax drop by more than 90%, and the Columbus Civic Center will run a deficit of at least $1 million this year, Henderson said.
“The hospitality industry has taken it on the chin,” he said. “We had to open a line of credit for the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Columbus) so they could continue operations and try to get through this. It’s hit in so many different areas.”
Henderson said the city is examining the legislation to understand what the federal funds can cover and what sort of verification is required.
“We’ve got all our department heads working inwardly and trying to identify and figure out exactly what the damage was to them over the past year,” he said.
Details of the Rescue Plan and how it differs from the CARES Act
Top-ranking Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, have criticized portions of the new aid package.
In an op-ed for Fox News earlier this month, Kemp called the plan a “blue state bailout” as state-level funding under the American Rescue Plan is tied to its unemployment rate. He estimated the state would have received $1.3 billion more under the previous CARES Act formula.
Carr, along with 20 other state attorneys general, wrote a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen over concerns that the legislation would take over state tax policy. Language in the legislation prevents states from using funds to offset a reduction in net tax revenue caused by a change in laws or regulations. The attorneys called the provision “unprecedented and unconstitutional infringement.”
Approved uses and the distribution of funds differ among the two pieces of legislation.
Under the American Rescue Plan, the U.S. Department of Treasury oversees payments to states, counties and larger cities. The money will be distributed over two years with half of the funds coming within 60 days of passage and the remaining amount coming in 2022. States are responsible for distributing the federal funds to smaller cities, towns and villages with less than 50,000 residents once the money arrives.
CARES Act funding only went directly to local governments with populations larger than 500,000. Cities, counties and other governments below this population threshold depended on the state government to disburse federal money.
Last year’s CARES Act allowed local governments to cover payroll expenses for public safety and public health employees, telework capabilities, payments to private hospitals for COVID-19 related expenses, grants to prevent eviction from housing, assistance to small businesses and other eligible expenses.
But, unlike the American Rescue Plan, it couldn’t be used to directly address shortfalls in local government revenue, Columbus Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin told the Ledger-Enquirer in 2020.
Columbus expected to receive nearly $35 million in CARES Act funding, but it only got $10 million after Kemp used $1.5 billion of the aid to bail out the state’s unemployment system, Henderson said.
“We understood. There were a lot of Georgians out of work, and it had really knocked a hole in the bottom of that insurance trust fund,” Henderson said. “We just obviously wish there had been another source of funding. ...We’re grateful this package had something for local governments.”
What are other Columbus-area governments getting in estimated aid?
Cities
- Americus: $4.76M
- Cusseta: $3.44M
- Cuthbert: $1.08M
- Georgetown: $720,000
- Buena Vista: $650,000
- Ellaville: $590,000
- Lumpkin: $400,000
- Hamilton: $350,000
- Fort Gaines: $300,000
- Talbotton: $270,000
Counties
- Harris County: $6.83M
- Sumter County: $5.73M
- Chattahoochee County: $2.12M
- Marion County: $1.62M
- Randolph County: $1.31M
- Stewart County: $1.28M
- Talbot County: $1.20M
- Schley County: $1.02M
- Clay County: $550,000
- Webster County: $510,000
- Quitman County: $450,000
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 6:00 AM.