Tuesday, May 5, 2020 | 7:04 p.m.
Clark County is allocating about $295 million from the federal CARES Act for coronavirus relief efforts.
County staff recommends that about $73.6 million go toward public health and emergency-related costs, including $13 million for personal protective equipment and $21.3 million for COVID-19 testing.
Jessica Colvin, the county’s chief financial officer, said the county is actively pursuing additional money from the stimulus, which initially gave about $150 billion to state and local governments. The county is also pursuing grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We have a team in place to monitor these funding sources and their due dates as well,” Colvin said.
The county spent $19.1 million of its own funds to fight the pandemic, including $5.6 million for the ISO-Q homeless facility at Cashman Complex, a joint project between the county and city of Las Vegas designed to serve the sick and symptomatic homeless during the pandemic.
Around $121.1 million of the stimulus money would go toward human services programs like the homeless facility, which would get a total of $13.5 million, per staff recommendation. These costs are associated with keeping the facility running until Dec. 30, Colvin said.
University Medical Center is projected to need an additional $97 million until the end of the year for supplies and equipment. Staff is recommending $16 million in CARES funds for UMC, which would keep the county’s contribution on par with previous years, Colvin said.
Staff recommends $25.5 million in stimulus money for municipal costs like building modifications and worker compensation. Colvin said they are still determining how much to allocate toward the Clark County Detention Center and Metro Police.
“We’re pursuing all other areas of financing available,” Colvin said. “If we received FEMA funding, that’s going to free up some of these allocated dollars.”
Stimulus money can also be used to reimburse jurisdictions for pandemic-related costs. Staff recommends $9 million be given back to the county.
Some commissioners raised concerns over how the county is allocating funds toward regional services, particularly when the city of Las Vegas — which was allocated $120 million in CARES funds — has no obligation to allocate its share of the funds toward the same regional services under the act. Las Vegas is the only municipality in the state to receive its own allocation of CARES funds.
“We definitely need to have discussions with the city about contributing their proportion of funds toward regional services,” Commissioner Justin Jones said.
Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick said she already made clear in a conference call with city leaders that Las Vegas should ante up for economic recovery, regional services and testing. She also said she would reach out to the state to talk about a more regional approach to CARES aid.
