DATE: September 22, 2020
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Supervisor Brandau and Supervisor Pacheco
SUBJECT: Authorize funding from Federal CARES Act funding for 14 cities in Fresno County for COVID-19 related programs
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Authorize funding to 14 of Fresno County incorporated cities to address COVID-19 issues within their jurisdictions using Federal CARES Act funding in the amount of $3,000,000 as detailed in Exhibit A to be expended by December 30, 2020.
REPORT
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board could choose to take no action.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The County of Fresno received $81,579,507 of CARES Act funding on April 22, 2020. In addition, the recently passed State of California FY 2020-21 Budget allocates an additional $16,438,000 of the State’s share of CARES Act funding for a total of $98,017,507. The proposed action utilizes $3,000,000 of the County’s CARES Act funding for reimbursement and support for programs in Fresno County’s 14 cities outside the City of Fresno.
DISCUSSION:
The smaller cities in Fresno County (Clovis, Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Orange Cove, Parlier, Reedley, San Joaquin, Sanger, and Selma) received CARES Act funding through a $500 million allocation from the State of California. However, the amounts are disproportionately smaller than the funding communities of more than 500,000 residents received through federal CARES Act allocations.
Many smaller cities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 because of the types of households and workforces in those communities. The caseloads are thus disproportionately higher than in the Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area.
As these cities face COVID-19 issues, their budgets have been significantly impacted. Almost without exception, members of the cities’ staffs say they are unable to meet many of the new needs and concerns of their residents such as rental assistance or business grant funding related to COVID-19 losses.
For example, Mendota, which has 2.3% of the population of the City of Fresno, received 0.17% of the $92.8 million amount the City of Fresno was issued. Clovis, which has 22% of the population of the City of Fresno, received about 1.6% of the funding. In short, each city received about one-tenth of the level of financial support it should have if compared with the City of Fresno, while still shouldering a significant amount of the caseload. These cities provide valuable services, which if not provided, would require financial or staffing backfill by the County of Fresno.
Approval of the recommended action will allocate $3,000,000 of CARES Act funding the County received, as detailed in Exhibit A, to the smaller cities in Fresno County to provide them additional means to develop programs unique to each city’s needs related to COVID-19. While this proposal does not offset the entire disparity, it is an attempt to reduce that disparity by using about 3% of the County’s CARES Act allocation to assist our smaller cities beyond what the County of Fresno has already done in these communities. If approved, the proposal employs a 50-50 formula that considers the population and total caseload, which means the dollar amounts will be distributed at a higher level based on a city’s number of COVID-19 cases.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Exhibit A
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander