City of Pueblo to receive financial help from CARES Act

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- As COVID-19 continues to cause problems throughout the country, the City of Pueblo will be able to help relieve some much needed financial stress thanks to the CARES Act.

Mayor Nick Gradisar said, "This is a big help to the City of Pueblo. This will allow us to do some things that we would not have been able to have done and also allow us to be compensated for things we had to do to cope immediately with the emergency.”

In total, the City of Pueblo will be receiving $5,575,945, and some of that money will go toward hiring 10 COVID-19 educator and compliance technicians.

“People will help educate our businesses about what the requirements and variances are and make sure they are complying with that so we can make sure we keep our businesses open,” said Gradisar.

Along with new educators and compliance technicians, Gradisar says helping small businesses adapt is a must.

“We are going to use some of it, I think, to help some of our small businesses make permanent improvements to their outdoor dining areas, for instance on Union Ave. So now they will be able to expand their capacity on a permanent basis,” Gradisar said.

As for the rest of the money, Gradisar says it is expected to be used to cover a variety of unexpected expenses due to Covid-19. The city has had to pay about $65,000 in expenses for employees who have had to stay home because of Covid-19.

“All of these extraordinary expenditures that we made in terms of hand sanitizer, thermometers, gloves, masks all of this personal protective equipment that we’ve acquired that we didn’t anticipate in our budget, so these funds will help receive some of that stress,” said Gradisar.

And this $5.5 million is apart of a much larger grant. In total Pueblo County will see $14 million to help with expenses caused by Covid-19.