“When Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act in late March, it was intended to prop up state and local governments slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Battling the disease forced an economic shutdown, spiking unemployment and tanking tax revenues.” Arizona Republic, 06-12-20

As the largest city in the United States without a primary property tax, the decrease in sales tax caused by the sudden shut-down due to COVID-19 resulted in a crippling hit to City of Mesa revenues. Thankfully, the CARES Act enacted by Congress directed millions of dollars to individuals, businesses and cities to help them weather the economic impact of the pandemic.

The CARES Act provides specific criteria for how a city can spend their allocation.  All expenditures must be tied to COVID-19 under the guidelines of the Treasury Department.

Mesa is investing tens of millions of CARES Act dollars to assist our residents and small businesses as they recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19.  For example, we are purchasing food for our local food banks; responding to and curbing homelessness; buying laptops and WiFi access for all elementary school students for online learning; paying utility bills for families; preventing evictions; and providing rental assistance for small businesses. All these efforts supplement the money provided to individuals and businesses by the federal and state governments.

Reimbursing cities for fire, medical and police costs is specifically addressed in the federal rules.  In fact, all 91 of Arizona’s cities and towns are being reimbursed in this same manner.  Without the $50 million reimbursement that the City has placed into the General Fund, residents would see more dramatic cuts to libraries, parks and recreation programs, non-profit organizations, transit, museums and environmental programs.

No city department will see a budget increase because of this money.  Instead, this money will be used to maintain needed services and save jobs.

CARES Act funding for local government across the country totaled $150 billion.  That is only 6% of the $2.52 trillion that was appropriated by Congress.  That means 94% of the federal money was directed to individuals and small businesses to help them respond to COVID-19.

Congress allocated:

• $687 billion in small business loans
• $300 billion to families via direct cash payments of $1200
• $260 billion in extra $600/week unemployment payments
• $19 billion for SNAP and food assistance
• $8.8 billion for schools to provide meals
• $450 million for food banks

Mesa’s CARES Act dollars will do what Congress intended: financially assist local government to protect public safety, maintain our parks and libraries, help individual families and support the local economy.