Stafford County receives $13 million in CARES Act funding

Stafford County recently received $13 million in funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities (CARES) Act.

A list of documented expenditures and requests from agencies for a chunk of this money is currently being put together and will be presented to the Board by June 15, according to Deputy County Administrator Fred Pressley.

The funding requests already total over $15 million which is more than the funds that Stafford has received.

The county had been notified by the Virginia Secretary of Finance that they will receive a large sum that was made available from the $3.1 billion that was allocated for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The amount of the allocation to Stafford was determined by the state based on a population-based distribution.

Under federal guidelines, the money must go towards Stafford’s direct response to the virus as well as public health needs.

The funds can also be used for alleviating economic disruption and other economic support necessary due to the pandemic. They can’t be used for budget shortfalls or to cover expenditures that were already accounted for in the previously passed budget.

One concern brought up by Garrisonville District Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer was whether the local schools were going to get any of the money given to the county.

Stafford County Public Schools will be receiving their own grant of $1.5 million with the possibility of more funding.

The school system is one of the agencies that was asking for a cut of the funds from the grant so they could use it for cleaning supplies and thermometers.

The CARES Act was passed by Congress with bipartisan support and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020. The over $2 trillion economic relief package provides aid focused on protecting the American people from the public health and economic impacts of the coronavirus.