Lake discusses plan to spend CARES funds

After the coronavirus outbreak, governments ran up extra costs for everything from more personal protection equipment to higher fees for wastewater treatment because people were home flushing their toilets and washing their hands more often.

Those costs in Lake County total millions of dollars.

The County Commission discussed Friday how to use its federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds to reimburse governments for money already spent and to cover their expected costs as the pandemic lingers.

Lake is expecting about $64 million in CARES funds, which Congress passed earlier this year to help governments, businesses, agencies and individuals cope with the fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Cities, the county and constitutional officers like the sheriff submitted plans for about $12 million to cover coronavirus-related expenses.

The expenses include:

■ Personal protection equipment such as masks and gloves

■ Extra cleaning products and sanitation equipment

■ Construction costs to create space and partitions to keep workers socially distanced from each other

■ Equipment and software needed to allow working from home and to stream government meetings

■ Overtime

Clermont also submitted expenses for extra wastewater treatment and garbage collection, because people at home used their toilets, showers and sinks more and created more garbage.

The county will continue its discussion and make decisions on plans at Tuesday’s meeting.

Lake recently updated qualifying criteria for an earlier round of $16 million of CARES funds already available for businesses and nonprofits. The commission also increased the amount for awards, which now range from $4,000 to $30,000. The new awards are:

■ Self- employed/sole proprietor: $4,000

■ Businesses with 2-9 employees: $10,000

■ Businesses with 10-25 employees: $15,000

■ Businesses with 26-50 employees: $20,000

■ Businesses with more than 50 employees $30,000

■ Nonprofits and chambers of commerce (no employee requirement): $10,000

The county said the new award amounts “will be retroactive to all applicants previously approved and included in the first round of payments, as well as all new applicants.”

To receive the grants, businesses must have been legally in operation before Feb. 15. That is a change from the earlier deadline, which was Jan. 1, 2020. The deadline for those funds is 5 p.m. on Monday.

For additional information on how to apply for the Lake CARES Business Assistance Grant Program, visit http://www.reopenlake.com#cares. The program helpline is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (352) 268-9299.