Local News

Homewood to take in $436K for COVID relief

Homewood is getting some conditional economic relief to help cope with the costs of COVID-19.

The village board approved an agreement Tuesday to accept $436,731.52. That’s Homewood’s share of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The county is the pass-through agency for the funds. It received $429 million in CARES Act funds. About $51 million will be divided among suburban towns.

A formula was developed with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to determine how much each municipality would be given. It’s based on several factors including population, median income and COVID-19 deaths per 100,000.

“We have created a consistent, thorough and equitable process to distribute millions of dollars in CARES Act money to underlying municipalities for direct coronavirus-related costs like PPE purchases and operational initiatives to facilitate return to work arrangements for the suburban municipalities” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said last month. “Developing an enormous grant program from the ground up with little guidance from the federal government has been a giant undertaking and we are pleased to start getting money to our towns, cities and villages.”

Flossmoor’s share is $209,780.

The money can only be used for expenses directly related to the coronavirus, like reimbursement for personal protective equipment or virus-related overtime pay, Homewood Village Manager Jim Marino said. It can’t be used to make up for other revenues lost due to the disease and subsequent economic fallout.

The agreement approved Tuesday allows Marino to move forward with the application, which could be submitted this fall.

News by email

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name

Free weekly newsletter

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name
Most read stories this week