County closing CARES act applications next month

Individuals and businesses that qualify for reimbursement for losses of income and revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic have until Nov. 15th to submit an application with Alachua County.

 

Assistant County Manager for Budget and Fiscal Services Tommy Crosby reported to the Alachua Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 13th that as of Monday, Oct. 19th, Alachua County will have disbursed $9 million in CARES Act funds.

 

According to Crosby, more than 80 percent of the individual and business applications have been processed and $2 million has been approved to be dispersed on Oct. 19th.

 

The Nov. 15th cut off date will allow the staff to process all applications and work with those that are incomplete or awaiting support document uploads.

Crosby said most of the municipal subrecipient agreements have been received and the CARES Act program will move the nonprofit distribution program forward.

 

The County also allocated $1.3 million to the School Board of Alachua County. 

 

Crosby said round three for individual applicants for losses incurred in September will open on Oct.14th.

 

“The length of time it takes to process applications is extensive,” Crosby said about setting a cutoff date to make sure there is time to clear all of the applications.

 

“We are asking any brand new application be cut off by Nov. 15th in order to give plenty of notice to people who might have been putting it off.”

 

Crosby said any leftover funds would be distributed in the category three payroll costs which now allows use for all public safety departments that are considered impacted by COVID-19. Those include EMTs, fire rescue, law enforcement and first responders throughout Alachua County.

 

“We can quickly capture what funds are left at the end of December and distribute to those,” Crosby said. “We would request info from all municipalities to find out costs.

 

“But the primary goal is to get it (funds) out to people impacted by COVID-19,  individuals primarily.”

 

For more information about applying for Alachua County CARES Act funds click here.