More federal COVID relief money is coming to Charlotte. Here’s when — and how much.
The city of Charlotte expects to receive $149 million in federal COVID-19 relief money from the American Rescue Plan — with two separate allotments slated to arrive by mid-May 2021 and mid-May 2022.
City Manager Marcus Jones told City Council members Monday he already has started discussing the funding influx with Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Dena Diorio and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston. The county will get $215 million in federal support, and CMS will get $347 million.
The goal of the collaborative approach Jones said, is “to not necessarily look at these funds in three different silos ... (but) to look at these funds in such a way that can benefit our community as a whole.”
Council member Malcolm Graham said he is encouraged to see the coordination.
“I hope that we stretch the envelope relating to the housing piece,” Graham told the city manager, citing alternatives like converting underused hotels into affordable housing and exploring tiny homes.
The city’s first $75 million payment must be spent by Dec. 31, 2024 — a significantly longer timeline than the initial round of CARES funding, said Shawn Heath, special assistant to the city manager. Some of that money will be kept in a special contingency fund.
Local governments are allowed to use the funds to help households, small businesses and industries that have been economically devastated by the pandemic, including the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors, Heath told the City Council.
Funding also can cover government services facing revenue losses from the pandemic, as well as special pay to front-line essential workers and city investments for broadband internet access. Heath said Charlotte might receive more funding through other American Rescue Plan carve-outs, including for restaurant recovery, emergency rental relief and emergency housing vouchers.
Heath said Charlotte-Douglas International Airport also is expected to receive approximately $170 million and CATS would get $88 million from the American Rescue Plan, though those figures aren’t finalized yet.
COVID relief funding
Through the CARES Act, Charlotte received $154.5 million in federal aid last year. More than $60 million was spent on city operations like hazard pay, emergency leave and government building retrofits.
More than $75 million backed small business recovery programs; housing, homelessness and utility support; and public WiFi, among other efforts.
“Our starting point is to try to see how we can utilize these funds in a way that is consistent from what we learned in the first round,” Jones said.
Under the American Rescue Plan, Mecklenburg County will get more than five times as much aid than the CARES’ allocation. The county used its allocation for initiatives like emergency rental assistance, food insecurity, mental health, workforce development and senior services.
The new funding for CMS should help with the district’s return to in-person learning, Heath said.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 7:21 PM.