El Paso County has five months to spend $84 million in CARES Act funding
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The El Paso County Board of Commissioners has yet to allocate the majority of its $125 million in coronavirus relief funding given to the county from the federal government.
More than $15 million was given to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, which is using its money to fund improvements at the jail and install a video court system, among other projects.
The El Paso County government, along with Pikes Peak United Way, also announced Wednesday they are using $1 million to accept applications from area nonprofits to help people undergoing hardship due to COVID-19. But about $84 million has yet to be dispersed.
“You would think that it wouldn’t be hard to spend $125 million, but in the county, we want to make sure we are good stewards of the money the federal government has given us,” El Paso County Commissioner Mark Waller said.
Waller indicated about $20 million of the remaining $84 million will go to the Pikes Peak Workforce Center and private sector to keep local businesses afloat. But some local businesses have already been forced to close their doors without further assistance, like the Boulder Street Diner, which shut down last Saturday.
The federal government has said local governments must spend the CARES Act funding by the end of the year or risk losing it altogether.
"Living in a county of 735,000 residents, trying to figure out the impacts COVID is kind of a difficult and daunting task," Waller said.
The board of commissioners is hoping that deadline will be extended in the next federal stimulus package. However, Republicans and Democrats have yet to come to an agreement on a second relief bill.
