Collin
County has received federal funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
(CARES ACT). Citizens of municipalities located within the County
are also citizens of Collin County. With the exception of the City of Dallas, no municipalities located
in whole or in part in Collin County received CARES ACT funding.
Collin County staff has reached out to city staff indicating their intention to create the Direct Costs Program as one strategy for responding to the impact of COVID-19 on communities. (See attached DRAFT Order, details of which will be finalized in the Commissioners Court Meeting on Monday, May 11.)
The purpose of
the Direct Costs Program is to assist eligible municipalities
within Collin County with direct COVID-19 expenditures with the intention of being financially ready to address new challenges that may lie ahead
as part of the COVID-19 emergency. The creation of this Program is an authorized use of CARES ACT
funding.
Eligible Collin County Municipalities under this Program are limited
to: Allen, Anna, Celina, Fairview, Farmersville, Frisco, Lavon, Lucas, McKinney, Melissa, Murphy, Parker, Plano, Princeton, Prosper, Richardson and Wylie.
This Direct Costs Program only covers expenditures
made by municipalities between March 1, 2020 and 11:59 PM December 30, 2020.
Committing to an expenditure does not qualify. Payment of the expenditure
actually has to have been made by 11:59 PM on December 30, 2020; the
expenditure must have been or must be for the purpose of addressing or responding to the COVID-19 emergency; and
the expenditure must not have already been budgeted for as of March 27, 2020
from municipal funds.
Collin County has indicated that the County Commissioners will
make a total final determination of CARES ACT funding available for this Direct
Costs Program at the Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for Monday, May 11 at 1:30 p.m. at which time the final details of the Interlocal Agreement can be determined.
The total funding available for the Direct
Costs Program will be allocated between each eligible municipality based on its
population within the County. Each
municipality receiving a share of these funds shall deposit
them into a special segregated account created by each municipality solely for holding
and dispersing the Municipal Funds. This account must be interest-bearing and
similarly insured as the municipality's other funds.
Each eligible
municipality receiving an allocation under the Direct Costs Program may use
their Municipal Funds for reimbursing the municipality for COVID-19 expenditures
already paid and incurred, and for expenditures to assist it with the ongoing
responses to COVID-19 as detailed in an ILA with the municipality Examples
of eligible COVID-19 post 3/1/2020 expenditures include, but are not limited
to, past and ongoing sanitation, COVID-19 testing, past or ongoing acquisitions
of personal protective equipment for employees, overtime related to COVID-19,
employee time dedicated to fielding and answering COVID-19 calls rather than
handling their normal work, self-quarantine expenses for homeless, and preparing
for the future re-emergence of COVID-19 by purchasing and stocking PPE and
sanitation supplies, and other expenditures recoverable by municipalities as described in the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Coronavirus Relief Fund Guidance for State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Governments.
Each municipality receiving Municipal Funds shall be
required to document and justify that each disbursement of Municipal Funds was
an eligible expenditure under its ILA
with the County and the CARES ACT. All
documentation shall be due no later than January 15, 2021.
If any of a city's Municipal Funds are not
expended as provided in its ILA with the County by 11:59 PM December 30, 2020,
the city shall return the unspent Municipal Funds to the County within thirty (30) business days.
Prior to receiving, and as a condition to receiving,
any Municipal Funds, each municipality must enter into an interlocal
cooperation agreement with the County which incorporates the terms of this Direct
Costs Program and provides for other matters ("ILA"). If the County, in its
sole discretion, determines that a municipality has breached its ILA with the
County, then the County may declare the ILA to be in default, and it may require
the return and repayment to the County of the remaining balance of the
Municipal Funds, including any reimbursements for ineligible expenditures.