Coronavirus Relief Fund (CARES Act)

The CARES Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020, included $150 Billion in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) allocations for State, Local, and Tribal governments. While the County of Nevada fell under the population threshold of 500,000 population to receive a direct allocation from the CRF, the Governor’s May Revision to the California State Budget included a proposal to share $1.3 Billion of the State’s CRF allocation with Counties.

On June 29, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the 2020 Budget Act, which made formal the allocation of $10 Million in CRF funds to the County of Nevada for purposes consistent with the guidance provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The CARES Act provides that payments from the Fund may only be used to cover costs that:

  • Are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19);
  • Were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the State or government; and
  • Were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020.2

The County's CRF Expenditure Plan was initially approved by the Board of Supervisors on 7/14/2020 via Resolution 20-319 and called for 30% of the County's allocation ($3M) to be reinvested into Community & Economic Resiliency programs. Final CRF Expenditures are summarized as follows:

$3.5M for Economic & Community Resiliency

  • $1.5M in Macro Grants for Anchor Institutions
  • $1M in Community Broadband Accessibility Grant
  • $415K for Local Public Safety Agencies
  • $350K for Nevada County Relief Fund
  • $200k for Distance Learning Support

$6.5M for County Response to COVID-19

  • $3.8M for Public Health and Safety Employee Payroll
  • $1.2M to Improve Telework Capacity for County Employees
  • $790K for Personnel and Services Diverted to a Substantially Different Use
  • $600K for Public Health Expenses
  • $170K for Housing Support
  • $17K for Personal Protective Equipment
  • $5K for COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing

Supporting Documents and Links: