Officials in Youngstown and Warren plan for American Rescue mahoningmatters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mahoningmatters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mar 14, 2021
Campbell Mayor Nick Phillips points to ceilings damaged by flooding and heavy rain. The city hall building on Tenney Avenue is undergoing some work to correct damage, but additional federal funding in response to COVID-19 last week could help the city update its building for employees and the community, Phillips said.
Mahoning Valley cities, villages and townships over the coming years have, in the words of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, “a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
But how will their allotments of the latest $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 relief bill with about $260 million of it coming here be put to use?
Local leaders largely are still figuring that out, and some of the funding figures are not yet firm.
“It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan said Thursday.
Of the approximately $260 million coming here, more than $200 million will go directly to the two counties as well as Youngstown and Warren, the largest cities in the counties.
Youngstown is in line to receive $88,629,500 an amount greater than what is going to Mahoning and Trumbull county governments combined.
Mahoning County is set to get $44,351,660 while Trumbull County is to receive $38,395,838. Warren is expected to receive $29,752,062.
The money is for communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as for being neglected by the federal government for decades, said Ryan, D-Howland.
YOUNGSTOWN The Mahoning County commissioners have about $200,000 in remaining federal CARES Act money to spend during 2021, but most of it will go to the Mahoning County Board of Health to help it carry out COVID-19 vaccinations.
Audrey Tillis, county administrator and head of the office of management and budget, said the county tried to use its CARES Act funding by the end of 2020 because the federal government indicated that funds not used by then would have to be returned.
State officials alerted her about Dec. 21 that the deadline to use the money had been extended to the end of 2021, she said.
YOUNGSTOWN The Mahoning County commissioners on Thursday allocated $1.5 million in CARES Act funding to Catholic Charities Regional Agency to distribute for residential rental assistance.
The funds are provided in amounts of up to $10,000 per household for residents meeting various requirements. The CARES Act provided funds to help Americans weather the economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Audrey Tillis, county administrator, said Catholic Charities “did a very good job” when it distributed about $1 million of CARES Act funds for the same thing last year.
It has about 400 poeple on a waiting list that was created when Catholic Charities distributed about $1 million in CARES Act funds last year, Tillis said.