Spokane city officials weigh how to spend federal coronavirus relief

The city of Spokane will soon decide how to spend at least $3 million in coronavirus relief money.

Because the cost of the city’s COVID-19 response fell well below what was originally anticipated, it now has more CARES funds to spend on community relief.

The city’s spending on its COVID-19 response is now expected to total about $3.5 million through the end of the year. Last month, officials had estimated to spend about $5.7 million through 2020.

“Now that the dust has settled a little bit and we’ve been able to take a look at what we’ve actually incurred, those things have changed a little bit,” Sally Stopher, director of grants, contracts and purchasing told the city’s Finance Committee on Monday.

The lower expenses leave the city with more than $3 million of its $6.6 allocation from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security or CARES, Act to inject into the community.

It will be up to the administration of Mayor Nadine Woodward and the Spokane City Council to determine how that money is spent.

On Monday, the City Council will vote on a nonbinding resolution that calls for a “collaborative and community-informed” process to determine how federal coronavirus relief is distributed .

The resolution calls for priority to be given to initiatives and programs that address food insecurity, child care, rental assistance, nonprofit service providers and small, locally owned businesses.

“We realize the intent of this money is to get it out into the community sooner, rather than later, so we’re hoping to get that process going in the very near future,” said City Council President Breean Beggs.

The city expects to release a public survey to gauge the community’s priorities some time in June, according to Stopher.

Relief from the CARES Act must be spent by the end of October.

The CARES Act is one of two main sources of emergency coronavirus funding for which the city is eligible .

The Federal Emergency Management Agency also will provide support, but only at a reimbursement rate of 75%. The city must find a 25% match from either a local or state source – other federal funds can not be used.

The city’s portion of the CARES Act funding is separate from that received by Spokane County, which was granted about $90 million by default due to the size of its population. The city received CARES dollars from the state Department of Commerce.

To date, the city has spent about $1.24 million in its response to the coronavirus, including $194,000 to purchase personal protective equipment and increase sanitation regimens. Other sizable costs include employee use of the Family Medical Leave Act and improving city technology to allow for telecommuting.

After support from the CARES Act and FEMA, the city’s portion of its estimated $3.5 million in coronavirus spending is expected to amount to about $83,000.

The city did not incur the costs it originally anticipated partly because Spokane County has yet to see the surge in cases it feared when a state of emergency was declared in March. But state and local health officials have warned in recent days that cases are growing at a more concerning rate since many counties advanced to Phase 2 of reopening.

To start, officials were also tracking the full salary of every employee assigned to coronavirus response as a potentially reimbursable cost. Only the time that employee spends on coronavirus response, however, will be eligible for relief funding.