Clallam County’s budget got a significant shot in the arm last week with an infusion of about 7 and a half million dollars in COVID relief dollars from the federal government’s American Recovery Act fund.  Every city and county started receiving those funds last week based on population. 

Appearing on KSQM radio yesterday Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias says commissioners are now beginning a process for developing plans for how to allocate that money. He says the CARES act funds received at the beginning of the pandemic had a very short time line for decision making and expenditure of the funds. The Recovery Act funds are intended to last longer and not be quite so reactionary. Right now, commissioners are starting to talk about how to set priorities for spending those dollars within guidelines provided by the Act.

OZIAS:  “We’ve got a couple of years actually to consider how we will obligate those dollars. We actually can spend through 2026. So I’m hoping that the impact from these recovery act funds will last longer than just the next couple of months.”

Ozias says one beneficiary of the new infusion of money will be the county’s public health department.

“There’s no doubt that a significant portion of that is going to be invested in a more robust public health effort. There are some specifics certainly related to COVID and the continuing work that our public health team is going to have to do for the foreseeable future.”

He says the county is expecting to receive the second half of the 15 million dollar grant next year.