COVID money to help small businesses, infrastructure

There will be four main ways to spend federal money that will help Lorain counter the economic effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, said Mayor Jack Bradley.

On March 10, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, announced Lorain and other cities across northern Ohio would receive money from the American Rescue Plan introduced by President Biden.

Lorain will receive about $30.75 million, although that amount may vary depending on U.S. Census figures, Bradley said March 15 in his report to Lorain

City Council.

The city will get half of the money in about 60 days, then the second half within a year after the first round of funding, Bradley said.

The city must spend the money by Dec. 31, 2024, giving the city more than 2 ½ years to spend it.

Lorain’s city leaders are awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Treasury on exact spending rules, Bradley said.

But there will be four main categories for using the money, he said.

• Responding to negative economic effects to households, small businesses and nonprofits, or affected industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality.

• Workers performing essential works during the public health emergency or providing grants to eligible employers with those workers.

• Government services, to the extent of reduction in revenues. For Lorain, that means revenue collection of 2019 compared to 2020, Bradley said.

• Make necessary investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.

The Treasury Department sometimes offers guidance for spending money, then changes those rules, so the city administration is in wait-and-see mode, Bradley said.

“We’ll try to be creative, and yet follow the guidelines,” the mayor said.

Lorain City Council was unanimous in adopting resolutions of appreciation thanking Kaptur and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown for their work representing the residents of Lorain city and county.

The legislation was appropriate to recognize them for their work at the federal level.

“The fact that she worked so hard to get these funds to flow directly to the localities as opposed to the state government, these are the things we need our representatives to do,” said Councilman-at-Large Tony Dimacchia.

“And certainly I think we all know what Congresswoman Kaptur has done over the years and I just think it’s worth the recognition from this body.”

Councilman-at-Large Mitch Fallis agreed.

In the last year, Lorain received several million dollars from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act. This year, it is more than $30 million, Fallis said.

“That is extraordinary.

That’s extraordinary,” he said, and the lawmakers deserve the recognition and thanks for their efforts to bring home significant money to the communities.

Brown has worked to ramp up vaccinations, a critical step, and the American Rescue Plan will help with that, Dimacchia said.

Brown also has legislation, known as the Child Poverty Reduction Act, that could help Lorain, Dimacchia said.

The bill would establish a national goal of reducing child poverty by half in 10 years and require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Census Bureau to annually track the progress toward that goal.

In 2018, 11.9 million children were living in poverty, according to figures from Brown’s office.