Coronavirus recovery aid to Springfield tops $32M as pandemic continues
SPRINGFIELD -- The city has been awarded more than
Millions more is needed, particularly in the form of grants from the
“Overall, we’re in pretty good financial shape,” said
The city has used COVID-19-related grants for improvements to municipal and school buildings, including the purchase of personal protective equipment, installation of plastic partitions and soap dispenses, and air quality improvements. Some
Separately, the
The grants have included
Grant assistance to small businesses has “literally kept many of them in business,” Sheehan said.
In addition,
Mayor
The grant applications trace back to the start of the pandemic in March.
“It’s not a slush fund,” Sarno said.
The funds are needed to fill gaps as the city deficit-spends to cover coronavirus-related costs, and to assist businesses, nonprofit organizations and residents, Sarno said. The city has been able to keep all employees on the job, and to continue essential services, he said.
Plante said the city imposed a hiring freeze and spending freeze, except to fill essential vacancies and cover critical expenses.
Beyond the challenges this year, Plante and Sarno anticipate the impact of the coronavirus will continue to be felt financially in fiscal 2022 and 2023.
Since the pandemic began, the city has lost approximately
The total amount of COVID-19 grants is
The largest grant was from the federal CARES Act coronavirus relief fund and totaled
The city used some of the funds to purchase laptops for students, to cover the cost of Zoom licensing to allow city departments to operate remotely, and to pay for COVID-19 protection measures in city buildings, officials said.
Due to the pandemic, the city was allowed by the state
One example is that the city erected and equipped large tents on
The city is not being reimbursed for its reduced revenues, such as excise tax revenues, from any state or federal grant sources, officials said. It is hoped that a second federal stimulus package would include funds for such losses, but it is not yet approved, officials said.
The city is still waiting to find out if its first
Plante praised the partnership between city departments and the school system to strategize and maximize all funding sources “to do what’s right for the kids and residents.”
Sarno said the city has been helped by being strong on managing its finances over the years and keeping a healthy reserve fund.
“The residents are in need, the business community is in need,” Sarno said, promising to continue efforts to provide aid.
One of the major challenges facing the city is finding reimbursements for COVID-19 costs past
“The request for assistance comes in daily,” Sheehan said. “Unfortunately, we’ve deployed a lot of resources and it needs to be replenished.”
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