CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Commissioners on Tuesday awarded $664,226.52 to 12 municipalities to help recover costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the disbursement of $625 million to 60 Pennsylvania counties through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The county received $7,157,429 for virus-related expenses through the COVID-19 County Relief Block Grant Program from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
During Tuesday’s board work session, the commissioners voted unanimously to award CARES funding to all municipalities that submitted funding requests. The municipalities and funding amounts are as follows:
- Sandy Township – $200,255.20
- Clearfield Borough – $117, 137.51
- Lawrence Township – $144,768.02
- DuBois City – $146,897.79
- Bell Township – $6,700
- Cooper Township – $9,700
- Houtzdale Borough – $2,200
- Morris Township – $15,000
- Graham Township – $3,711
- Goshen Township – $1,562
- Boggs Township – $15,000
- Ramey Borough – $1,295
Commissioner Dave Glass said the county awarded funds to the smaller municipalities in the amount requested, if it was eligible under the CARES Act. “We knew their needs would be smaller than the larger municipalities.”
So far as the larger municipalities like DuBois City, Sandy and Lawrence Townships and Clearfield Borough, he said the commissioners developed a population-based formula to “make it fair.”
Since March, municipalities have had to deal with increased responsibilities and costs with cleaning/disinfecting work spaces, telework, etc. Police forces have also been kept particularly busy, according to Commissioner John Sobel.
“To be able to assist our local municipalities – even though it’s in a very small way – is very rewarding,” he said. Glass said the county may possibly be able to offer a second round of funding but noted there was no guarantee.
Glass said the commissioners were still in the process of reviewing funding requests from small businesses and non-profits that were also adversely affected by the pandemic, and that was expected to take four to six weeks.