Collin County commissioners voted Nov. 16 to give Judge Chris Hill authority to sign amended contracts that will allow Frisco, McKinney, Plano and Allen to move the federal funds for those food cards as needed.
“What we found is the cities purchase those food cards based on the pro rata share of the money you sent to them,” County Administrator Bill Bilyeu told commissioners. “Unfortunately, the demands don’t follow that pro rata share. One side of the county has more demands than the other side of the county.”
After Monday’s meeting, Bilyeu said the west side of Collin County generally has more funding allocated to it than needed. Commissioners previously reduced the budget for the county’s housing assistance program Oct. 5 from $30 million to $18.4 million.
Following that budget amendment, Frisco's allocation was reduced to more than $2.2 million for housing assistance while McKinney had just under $4.8 million, Plano had more than $8.4 million, and Allen had just under $3 million. Based on each of those cities’ populations, that gave Frisco around $9.60 per resident, while McKinney, Plano and Allen were each between $19-$21 per resident.
“Food cards are actually in [each city’s] inventory, but they need to move the money to follow [the needs],” Bilyeu said to commissioners. “The cities are not asking for the dollar amount to be reduced.”
He explained the request to give Hill authority to sign the amended contracts was made so the upcoming holidays did not interfere with approvals.
The motion to allow Hill to approve the contracts was passed unanimously, though Commissioner Cheryl Williams was absent from the meeting.
Commissioners adopted the Collin CARES recovery plan May 11 with the goal of assisting families and individuals affected by the coronavirus pandemic. That program included the distribution of funds for housing, utilities and groceries as well as for COVID-19 testing, personal protective equipment and recovery assistance for cities and towns.
