Central Florida awaits $846M in relief funds

Soon after President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion relief package into law on Thursday, local governments across Central Florida began anticipating the $846 million expected to flow into the region to provide financial help to families and businesses battered by the year-long COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are looking forward to using that money to once again help our hardest hit individuals and businesses in Orange County,” Mayor Jerry Demings said. “If there are opportunities, we’ll create some incentives to get people working, get people fed and all those kinds of things.”

As the region’s most populous county, Orange is expected to receive the lion’s share — roughly $270.3 million, or more than half — of the total $505.8 million for four Central Florida counties, according to estimates from the federal government.

Seminole will receive $91.5 million, Osceola nearly $73 million and Lake about $71.2 million. In addition, a total of $341.2 million is expected to be dispersed to 33 cities and towns in those counties. Orlando, for example, anticipates nearly $58 million, and Sanford receiving $12.6 million.

The National Association of Counties, however, said the U.S. Treasury Department could change those numbers.

Seminole Commission Chairman Lee Constantine said his county still needs to review all the guidelines in the American Rescue Plan Act before putting together a spending plan.

Still, he wants to see Seminole use the money for rental and mortgage assistance programs, small business grants and help for non-profit organizations.

“Seminole will use it to help those who are struggling,” he said.

The first half of the money to local governments will be distributed within 60 days — or by May 10 — and the second half no earlier than a year later. Governments would then have until Dec. 31, 2024 to spend the money on COVID-19 relief measures.

At a recent commission meeting, Seminole County Manager Nicole Guillet said that gives her staff more time to put together a spending plan. Seminole officials also said they were pleased that under this latest relief package the money will flow directly to counties.

Under the $2.2-trillion CARES Act economic stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in March 2020, counties like Seminole, Osceola and Lake with fewer than 500,000 residents had to rely on state government in Tallahassee to receive their shares.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration then said it would stop handing out payments to the smaller counties and instead required them to apply for reimbursements. That forced many counties to dig into their reserves or modify their budgets to fund pandemic relief while awaiting state reimbursement checks.

Under the latest relief package, the U.S. Department of Treasury would oversee and administer the payments to state and local governments, and every county would be eligible to receive a direct allocation.

“Now, we will get it directly, which we believe is a much better benefit than the previous CARES money,” Seminole Commissioner Jay Zembower said.

Seminole last year received $82.3 million in CARES Act funding, of which $19.5 million went for individual assistance and $12.5 million for small businesses.

Zembower hopes the latest funds also could be used to upgrade and expand park lands and trails, “because we saw such huge usage during the pandemic.”

He pointed out that non-profit organizations greatly impacted by the pandemic shutdown could use a helping hand, such as the Central Florida Zoo and Harvest Time International, a humanitarian relief agency based in Sanford that provides food, clothing and other essentials to needy families.

The Central Zoo and Botanical Gardens, for example, lost about $80,000 and $100,000 a month last year because it was forced to close in March and April because of the pandemic. In October, it received $1.5 million in CARES Act funding for protective equipment and replace lost revenues.

Osceola spokeswoman Krystal Diaz said the estimated nearly $73 million for her county is still subject to change by the U.S. Treasury Department, which will coordinate the distribution of the funds.

Still, “we will continue to assist our residents, businesses, non-profits and schools in recovering and surviving the pandemic and its associated economic impacts,” Diaz said in an email.

In Lake, officials have started evaluating details of the new stimulus package and what would qualify, according to county spokeswoman Samantha Shylkofski.

Lake last year allocated about $13.7 million of the $64 million it received from the CARES Act for rental, mortgage and utility assistance. However, about $9 million of that is still earmarked for rent, and $1 million for utilities.

“This could be that the need is not as great as anticipated or the federal requirements are too strict,” Shylkofski said. “Business and resident assistance were the Board’s [county commissioners] primary focus.”

Cassandra Anne Lafser, press secretary for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, said her city also is awaiting more details from the federal government on what types of assistance programs would qualify for the $58 million Orlando is estimated to receive.

“We will also need to evaluate what the current needs of our community are when the funding is actually available to use to distribute and invest,” she said in an email.

Orange County, which received about $243 million in the CARES Act relief last year, spent about $95 million of that on social services and community needs, including $1,000 grants to households economically impacted by the pandemic. It also directed about $73 million on small business financial assistance, $57 million on public safety and health needs, including the disposal face masks, hand-sanitizer and other personal protective equipment.

Over the next six to seven months, Orange County will look at the basic needs in the community as it plans how to distribute the funds.

Kurt Peterson, manager of Orange’s Office of Management and Budget said the new relief package “talks about helping out impacted industries, such as tourism, travel and hospitality,” which were devastated by the coronavirus shutdown.

Demings said it is likely that some of the money will be spent on job retraining and to assist small businesses.

“We want our economy firing on all cylinders,” Demings said.