The city will receive allocations from Brazoria, Harris and Fort Bend counties from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act. Pearland City Council discussed June 8 how it might allocate the CARES Act money within the city.
Joel Hardy, Pearland’s grants and special projects administrator, discussed looking at recovery efforts for the community, including the city, businesses, residents and nonprofits.
“We of course have heard from local businesses, particularly small businesses that have had notable economic loss,” Hardy said. “We want to use funds in a way that makes sense for those businesses where their recuperation efforts are concerned.”
Hardy said the city wanted to get input from council on how the money could be spent, and that the ideas were preliminary. The city’s presentation stressed reimbursements and recovery as the two categories the money would be spent on. Reimbursements would cover the money and resources the city has already allocated towards fighting the coronavirus, including personnel costs, supplies and city technology enhancements. Recovery would focus on residents, small businesses and expanding testing in the city.
“The best way to get a handle on this virus is to know who has it. I don’t think there is a better priority for us than to try to expand testing,” Council Member Trent Perez said.
Perez and other council members stressed the importance of allocating the money to households and small businesses.
