Montgomery County and the City of Radford are included in the distribution throughout Virginia of $644.6 million in federal COVID-19 relief in the government’s second and final round of allocations.
With the distribution of the funds based on population, the county will receive $8,596,799, and Radford will receive $1,592.155.
To receive the second allocation, localities must submit a new certification form and complete an online survey regarding the use of their relief fund dollars. After these two documents are completed and submitted, the Department of Accounts will initiate the transfer of funds to the local treasurer. Localities can expect to receive the transfer from the state comptroller within five business days following confirmation of receipt of the completed documents.
Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced the distribution of the money Thursday.
Other localities in Southwest Virginia that will receive money through the second round of the allocations include Bland County $547,906, Botetourt County $2,915,679, Carroll County $2,599,150, Craig County $447,660, Floyd County $1,374,040, Giles County $1,458,756, Patrick County $1,536,230, Pulaski County $2,968,725, Roanoke County $8,217,365, Tazewell County $3,541,757, Wythe County $2,502,568, Galax City $553,751, Roanoke City $8,649,844 and Salem City $2,207,415.
These payments represent the remaining 50 percent of local allocations and do not include $200.2 million that Fairfax County received directly from the federal government. The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) established the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) to provide funding to states and eligible units of local government navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virginia received approximately $3.1 billion as its share of the $150 billion available through the relief fund. While the CARES Act does not require that states distribute funding to local governments with populations less than 500,000, the Governor recognizes that cities and counties of all sizes have expenses related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and directed these federal dollars to localities.
“Virginia was one of the first states to provide such a large share of its federal aid directly to local governments,” said the governor. “We are committed to making sure localities of all sizes get the assistance they need to respond to COVID-19 and keep Virginians safe during these unprecedented times.”
Once the second and final round of payments are disbursed, the governor will have distributed 100 percent of the local allocations the commonwealth received under the CARES Act, providing a total of $1.3 billion to localities.
“Local governments are responsible for spending the money they receive, and we need them to step up and make sure that these federal dollars are going to the right places,” said Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne. “Localities must be able to demonstrate to taxpayers that they are spending these funds wisely.”
The second round of allocations will be equivalent to the amount each locality received in the first round on June 1, 2020.
The CARES Act requires that coronavirus relief fund dollars only be used to cover costs that (1) are necessary expenditures incurred due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, (2) were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the state or government and (3) were incurred during the period of March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020.