Aid available for governments, businesses to cover COVID-19 expenses
By ALEX ORTIZEmailFollowJuly 25, 2020
Will County officials are aiming to make applications for federal aid to cover COVID-19 expenses available for local taxing bodies, businesses and nonprofits sometime in August.
The Will County ad hoc CARES Funding Committee has been discussing how to dole out about $120 million it received from the federal government. The money is meant to help cover expenses governments and organizations incurred as a direct result of the pandemic.
The Bronner Group, a Chicago-based government professional services firm the county hired to help with the process, presented a rough schedule for when the applications would be made available to the committee at a virtual meeting on Thursday.
Minority Leader Mike Fricilone, R-Homer Glen, said the county wants to make the application for local taxing bodies available likely in the second week of August. The applications for local businesses and nonprofit organizations would be made available during the following weeks.
Even though applications aren’t available yet, county officials are encouraging potential applicants to sign up for notifications on the county website at willcountyillinois.com/cares-act. If an interested party registers there, they will receive notification when the application is available.
“We want to make sure everyone is aware of it,” Fricilone said.
Committee members are still meeting weekly to refine details about how the money should be distributed. For instance, Fricilone said he’d like to see if Congress will pass another spending bill with more money for school districts. If Congress provides more aid, local districts might not need as much from the county.
