New Castle, DE – New Castle County Executive Matthew Meyer, just hours after proposing emergency ordinances, signed them into code. A link to this evening’s budget address can be found HERE. For the full submitted Fiscal Year 2021 budget, click HERE.
“We will continue to take decisive action to address this crisis, to keep our community and first responders safe, and look out for the most vulnerable among us. I thank County Council for their swift passage of these critical emergency ordinances,” County Executive Meyer said.
- Creating a $1 million emergency COVID-19 recovery fund to purchase to buy personal protection equipment, test kits, technology and additional medical supplies to keep first responders, all county employees and county residents safe, healthy and, where possible, able to work.
- Investing $500,000 in Delaware State Housing Authority’s Emergency COVID-19 Recovery Rental Assistance program.
- Investing $500,000 in emergency COVID-19 recovery rapid response for those in the greatest need. This investment will supplement the existing efforts of United Way, Delaware Community Foundation, Longwood Foundation and Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement. Rapid response moneys are distributed weekly to organizations to provide goods and services to those with the greatest needs across Delaware. Our funding will provide additional support for New Castle County goods and services.
- Providing emergency COVID-19 Recovery County Financial Relief. Relief on certain tax collections, penalties, fees as announced earlier this week.
- Bolstering the County’s seasonal Public Works jobs program to fill in gaps in County workforce by doubling the size of this seasonal job program, enabling those currently out of work to immediately begin earning a living again. Hiring for this program will begin as soon as safely possible, and the program will be larger than it has been in over a decade.
- Rushing large projects out to bid; Those interested can remotely bid throughout April and May and once it is safe to do so, residents will immediately be put to work, building a library, paramedic station and providing ramped up maintenance of our sewer system and on other publicly valuable projects.