New Castle, DE – Today, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer announced Hero’s Pay to first responders in New Castle County and three guiding principles for investing the CARES Act funding in New Castle County. The County will focus on eliminating the virus from our communities and mitigating the risk of a second wave, including enhancing our ability to respond to another crisis, assisting the most vulnerable among us, from a health and economic perspective, and putting our county back to work.
Signed into law on March 27, 2020 the CARES Act provides funding for all states and any local government with a population that exceeds 500,000. Department of Treasury placed New Castle County on its official list of eligible local governments here. CARES Act funding is restricted to only be expended in 2020 (by December 30) for COVID-19 related expenses incurred between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020. CARES Act money cannot be used for any expenses that were previously budgeted or to replace lost revenue.
“This is the people’s money, and we are going to get it to the people to eliminate this virus, protect the most vulnerable through the crisis and put our county back to work,” County Executive Meyer said.
County Executive Meyer also announced that New Castle County has joined the Delaware COVID-19 Anti-Fraud Coalition under the leadership of Delaware’s Attorney General Kathleen Jennings U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss.
- Initial allocations:
- $5 Million to support municipalities in New Castle County – New Castle County will reimburse municipalities for their non-budgeted COVID-19 expenses. Funding will be available proportionate to population and will adjust as needs evolve in the coming weeks and months. New Castle County will share the process to request this funding with all of the municipalities, including the CARES Act guidance from the Department of Treasury on allowable expenses.
- $1 Million to support Volunteer Fire Companies - New Castle County will reimburse volunteer fire companies for non-budgeted COVID-19 expenses. The process and guidance will be similar to the process for municipalities.
- $10,000 Hero’s Pay – New Castle County will provide hazard pay to first responders in active status working during the Coronavirus crisis, including all full-time first responders who are employed by New Castle County government and Municipal governments located within New Castle County, as well as full-time career first responders who are employed by a fire company located within New Castle County.
The allocation process, as well as all of the announcements being made today, are subject to legal review and the review of the Delaware COVID-19 Anti-Fraud Coalition.
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