Georgia has almost two weeks to process applications from governments, nonprofits and business groups seeking a $ 4.8 billion share of the country receiving as part of the COVID-19 aid program.
Lawmakers, agency directors and aid activists on Thursday listened to a presentation from state budget office Brian Kemp outlining how the process will work once applications begin on August 1.
Three committees - to expand broadband, water and sanitation infrastructure, and ways to reduce the recession - were appointed by Kemp last month. The economic collapse committee met on Thursday.
The state has already received half the money. It will receive a second half next year.
Government agencies, local governments, industry and non-profit organizations will be able to apply until August 31 at opb.georgia.gov. Committee members - lawmakers and agency officials - will adjudicate applications in September.
Finally, under state law, Kemp will make the final decision on whether to approve the committee's recommendations, and grants are expected to be announced by mid-October.
But that timeline may be optimistic and depend on the number of applications.
"It's the first time we've done something like this," said Kelly Farr, director of the Planning and Budget Office. "This is a system that will continue to evolve."
This round of applications will allocate about $ 875 million of the $ 2.4 billion the government has received so far, according to the OPB.
Most of the committee members come from outside the metro Atlanta, while most of the money in other areas, such as growing faster internet, will be spent. Of Kemp's 20 law-appointed lawyers, only two came from five counties on the Atlanta highway, and none came from Atlanta itself.
Lawmakers have called for transparency in the amount of taxpayers' money at stake.
But some lawmakers who were left out of the committees noted that it took the detectives' job to find out about Thursday's meeting. A notice was posted on the OPB website page, although you should have known where you were looking and there was no meeting link, which was held almost immediately.
OPB officials said they would send applications when they came in, and the grants would be made public once they were given. They said the meetings would be recorded and posted on the website.
The $ 1.9 billion aid package signed by President Joe Biden in March sends billions to Georgia cities and school districts.
While anticipating a major economic downturn from COVID-19, the economy in other provinces, including Georgia, declined sharply. The government this week announced a $ 3.2 billion increase in tax revenue by 2021, ending June 30.
Some states plan to use the money to help fill the remaining holes with local shrinking.
Others talked about proposals for repairing older water, sanitation and transportation, improving mental health systems and building the infrastructure needed to provide fast internet access to millions of Americans who do not have it.
The need to increase internet access at a faster rate - especially in rural Georgia - has been a hot topic in the General Assembly for years, but lawmakers would never have come up with a way to pay for it without raising taxes and fees.
That speech came to a head only when schools were closed at the beginning of the epidemic and schooling took the place of human education.
The money coming to Georgia could be used more widely in response to COVID-19, including direct payments to Georgian people, providing assistance to small businesses, paying more "to key employees," funding for job training and placement services, assisting economically affected areas such as hospitality and tourism, and funding for infrastructure projects.
Last year, funding from the federal CARES Act paid for Georgia's response to the epidemic. Kemp also spent $ 1.5 billion on corporate alliances to strengthen the unemployment benefit fund after a record number of Georgians lost their jobs. That, Kemp said, prevents the state from raising taxes on unemployment. Some new freedoms can also go to support the system, if necessary.
The organisation's aid to the Georgia Department of Education was used for $ 1,000 teacher bonuses, as well as additional government funds paid indirectly through government employee bonuses.
x
x
0 Comments