right here’s how Santa Clara County plans to spend a whole lot of hundreds of thousands in federal COVID-19 reduction money

© supplied via Mercury information SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 25: Patrick Garcia, appropriate, an LVN, licensed vocational nurse, administers a COVID-19 check to Christine King on the free COVID-19 testing website in Expo hall at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay enviornment information neighborhood)

Santa Clara County has some large bucks to spend.

via may also 2022, the federal government will dole out $374.4 million to the county as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. It's cash that is supposed to be spent by cities, counties and states to improve from the pandemic as part of a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by President Joe Biden in March.

The county already determined to spend $seventy six million of the funds on "hero pay" checks for roughly 22,000 county laborers, who will get a highest of $2,500 reckoning on their work repute. The decision at hand out the bonuses became criticized with the aid of some county people who felt not all their colleagues deserved it and San Jose councilmember and mayoral candidate Matt Mahan, who seen the funds as a misuse of public cash. Union contributors and leaders then pushed back on Mahan, mentioning he had voted to approve $1,000 bonuses for city laborers all over the summer. Mahan later called that an "apples to oranges" assessment.

On Tuesday, the county supervisors will receive a recommendation from the county executive about to spend the final $300 million. The supervisors can both approve the proposed allocations or present their own suggestions. here is the county's notion:

$157 million for county COVID-19 prices now not covered via Federal Emergency management agency reimbursements. This comprises vaccine outreach and schooling, trying out, variant monitoring, housing, quarantine and isolation charges, increasing healthcare capacity expenses, contact tracing and "future" impacts that the pandemic might also have on the county.

$sixty five.3 million for intellectual health, homelessness and other healthcare charges:

$13.1 million for the "Heading domestic" campaign, a plan to condo each homeless family in the county by 2025

$30.four million for behavioral health capabilities aimed at the homeless, families, migrant farm worker's and people in the criminal justice device

$21.eight million for upgrading the county's fitness facts device, a case supervisor who oversees homeless veterans over the route of 18 to 24 months, families in the baby welfare device who're at-possibility for homelessness, adults who are below probation or in pre-trial capabilities to help evade homelessness, youth substance abuse care, intellectual telehealth features, upgrading intellectual health electronic records, placement functions for "significantly mentally unwell" sufferers and an upgraded intellectual health administration software

$seventy four.7 million in provides, household-concentrated capabilities, and enhancements to county infrastructure:

$10 million for nonprofits within the county who skilled financial problem as a result of the pandemic

$20 million to aid families impacted through the pandemic

$10 million to assist student intellectual fitness capabilities

$34.7 million for outreach and engagement at homeless encampments with a focus on families, wages for people that misplaced their job all through the pandemic, expanding the approval price for disabled people who acquire monthly Supplemental security revenue payments, practising and construction of childcare worker's, meal beginning to seniors, bonuses for county fire department worker's (become independent from the $76 million in "hero pay" assessments), changing and upgrading defibrillators for the county fire branch, upgrading video convention functions in county jails, a two-yr pilot program that would speed up medicine placements for individuals serving time in penal complex or court docket and nonprofits and agencies who desire air filtration gadgets to flow into air to prevent COVID-19 infections

as a minimum one supervisor said they've an issue with how half the money is proposed to be spent.

District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg noted Monday she disagrees with spending $157 million for pandemic-linked prices the county has shouldered because FEMA should pay that. In March 2020, President Donald Trump directed FEMA to reimburse local and state governments for seventy five percent of COVID-19 fees, a determine that President Biden later accelerated to 100%.

"That may still no longer be part of the funding," Ellenberg referred to. "I'm now not in any respect satisfied that FEMA repayment should not obtainable. We get rid of the chance to follow (for reimbursements) if we allocate ARPA money. I consider it is vital we retain that door open."

Ellenberg also observed youngsters tens of tens of millions of greenbacks are already allotted to early childhood services in the concept, she would like to see even more funding in that enviornment. furthermore, she talked about she desires to peer $10 million go towards small enterprise provides, whatever thing that did not make it into the idea.

County executive Jeffrey Smith and supervisors Joe Simitian, Mike Wasserman, Otto Lee and Cindy Chavez were unavailable for comment.