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Kane County shares millions in COVID-19 funds with other local governments

About $28 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds are now available to cities, towns and villages in Kane County that have racked up expenses responding to the outbreak.

County board members locked in the plan Tuesday after more than two months of being pressed by local communities to release funds needed to help pay for thousands of dollars in unexpected expenses for fire and police departments, as well as possible assistance for businesses shuttered by the pandemic.

Under the plan, the county will keep 55% of the nearly $93 million it received after Congressional approval of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. It will give 37% to local municipalities. The remaining 8%, about $7 million, will go to unincorporated areas of the county.

In all, the county will set aside $34.7 million for municipalities, and will release 80% of the money - about $28 million - immediately. Communities will receive the money on a per capita basis. Actual payment will go out within 48 hours after applications are reviewed and approved by the Kane County state's attorney's office.

The county board will hold 20% of the total funds for municipalities, about $7 million, while it seeks agreement from municipalities on accurate population numbers.

The board also began spending the 55% it will keep - about $51 million. It approved about $8 million out of that portion for the county public health department. That cash will fund a contract with an outside vendor to take over contact tracing of county residents who test positive for COVID-19.

"Outbreaks are happening, and lives are being lost," health department Executive Director Barb Jeffers said in urging the board to act. "These are people. These are not numbers. In a week, an infected person can infect 29 other people. This is an enormous task."

Jeffers had asked for nearly $13 million in total. The additional funds would pay for public education efforts, mitigation of outbreaks at factories and retirement communities and a 30-day stockpile of personal protective equipment. She may still get that money.

First, board members want to rank those costs against competing needs in the sheriff's office, efforts to keep November polling places free of the virus and other county costs.

Preliminary numbers indicate the requests from the county's departments will surpass the amount of COVID-19 relief funds the board reserved for those expenses.

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