Gov. Ducey needs to give CARES Act funding to cities, counties
As your state Senator and your state Representative for the City of Yuma, we are both very concerned about the distribution of the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security) funds by Gov. Doug Ducey. According to a June 12 article in The Arizona Republic, the City of Yuma should have received $17,149,750. Instead the City received $11,283,763: a difference of $5,865,987.
By short-changing cities like Yuma, the governor has beefed up the General Fund by approximately $400 million.
The $2.8 billion in CARES Act funding that Congress directed to cities, towns and counties was meant as a lifeline to help preserve essential municipal services like first responders, water and aid to those experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable communities whose lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Arizona’s three largest cities and two largest counties were sent CARES Act funds directly – calculated on their populations – the governor was given the responsibility to distribute the remaining funds to rural and suburban communities like Yuma and smaller counties, also calculated by population. It was distressing and confusing to learn that the governor systematically withheld nearly $400 million of CARES Act funds from hard-hit towns, cities and counties, Yuma being one of them.
According to his spokesman, Gov. Ducey “met with mayors and local leaders on what their priorities were in constructing this.” Did our mayor ask the governor to withhold millions of dollars of aid to the City of Yuma? It’s impossible to believe that rural municipal leaders were OK with Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson receiving $174 per person while the governor arbitrarily allocated only $115 per resident to cities like Yuma.
Yuma has become one of the hardest-hit COVID-19 hotspots in the state, and in the country. On June 12, the 85364 area code in Yuma became the first in the state to reach over 1,000 COVID-19 cases, an explosion from 10 cases to 1,002 in just two months.
Recovery to our health care system will take months possibly years. Our community needs every cent that can be mustered to help our residents stay safe and stay afloat with no cure or slowdown in sight.
The CARES Act funding is really a critical tool for our hard-hit community to respond and protect our residents, and now it has been siphoned into the General Fund.
As Moses said to the Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Join us in urging
Gov. Ducey to give our rural communities the support and resources we need to fight back against this pandemic and save lives and jobs.
Sincerely,