Indian River reverses course, now will spend entire $28 million from CARES Act for pandemic relief

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The county has found a way to spend all of the $28 million it can receive through the federal CARES Act by the end of the year.

A revised spending plan, approved unanimously Tuesday by the County Commission, will provide housing and rental assistance in January.

TCPalm had reported that of Indian River's available $28 million, it planned to spend less than half, leaving about $14.5 million on the table.

The CARES Act provides assistance to individuals, organizations and government agencies — among others — affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It also can pay salaries and benefits of employees responding to the pandemic because it is a public-health emergency,

The county now plans to pay public-health and public-safety salaries with CARES Act money, freeing up about $12.7 million in the general fund. That money will be reserved for COVID-19-related expenditures, but can be spent in January, when county officials expect need to be greater.

Otherwise, CARES Act money must be spent by Dec. 30.

"COVID's not going to be done Dec. 31," said County Administrator Jason Brown. "We're still going to have costs to respond. Our fire rescue's going to have costs to respond. We're still going to have PPE costs. We're still going to have folks that are having trouble making their rent payments. We're still going to have businesses struggling."

Evictions for non-payment are under a moratorium until Jan. 1, Brown said. 

"We may have people who are running into a problem getting evicted in January, and our money has gone away," he said. 

Now the county can meet the federal government's Dec. 30 deadline for all CARES Act spending but also provide assistance in January. 

"There's already a crisis, but there's going to be a bigger one after the first of the year when some of these (evictions) start really happening," Commissioner Susan Adams said. 

The county already has spent about $13.5 million of its $28 million allocation,  mostly buying masks and other protective equipment for the county and for small businesses; funding grants to help small businesses impacted by COVID-19 restrictions; and helping people affected by COVID-19 pay rent and mortgages. 

About $1.7 million of the county's allocation was designated Tuesday for the Indian River County Hospital District, the school district, constitutional officers and municipalities was approved Tuesday.

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The county had not planned to spend its entire $28 million CARES Act grant because it would have meant paying upfront and waiting for reimbursement to the county reserve fund. 

Colleen Wixon is the Indian River County government watchdog reporter. Contact her at Colleen.Wixon@tcpalm.com or 772-978-2235.