Local governments have been reimbursed 127 million dollars so far as part of the CARES Act.
Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne says the money did not reimburse revenue losses for local governments and only paid for COVID-related expenditures.
“Payroll, usually over time. Some operating costs. Utilities for example at hospitals and prisons. Software and hardware, PPE that is required during the course of the pandemic,” says Dardenne.
Other professional services and contracts for things like mental health counseling and financial consulting also applied.
Dardenne says the bulk of the money reimbursed so far has gone to southern parishes hit hard in the early days like Orleans and Jefferson Parishes.
“We said from the get-go that we would be basing these reimbursements 70 percent on the case counts of the parish and 30 percent on the population of the parish,” says Dardenne.
Dardenne says it is interesting to note that 12 rural northern Louisiana parishes have not submitted an application for any reimbursements.
“We are certainly following up with them, legislators are following up with them to tell them that they may be eligible for some reimbursements but they have to make the requests,” says Dardenne.
The funding comes from a 524 million dollar fund for local governments.
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