Santa Rosa County will join other counties around the state in requesting the immediate release of about $1.275 billion in federal funding meant to help Florida with its COVID-19 recovery.
Congress approved the CARES Act to help state and local governments mitigate unexpected costs and revenue shortfalls associated with the managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a meeting Thursday morning, Santa Rosa County Administrator Dan Schebler told commissioners the federal funds could allow the county to recover some of the direct costs of responding to the pandemic, which might include anything from small business grant program spending to the costs of installing plexiglass shields at the counters of county offices.
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“There’s a number of things we could recoup, but first the governor has to release the funds from a state level,” Schebler said.
Commissioners approved a draft letter Thursday asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to expedite the release of the CARES Act funding. Commissioner Don Salter said based on its population, Santa Rosa County could be eligible for around $12 million.
Schebler noted that as a result of the pandemic, the county was already seeing revenue shortfalls that would have an immediate impact on the budget.
“We expect in the April to June quarter to see about a $2 million decrease in the state shared revenues and the local government half cent that comes from Tallahassee out of the state sales tax,” said Dan Schebler. “We are seeing lower gas tax currently. As far as collections go, we are about $200,000 behind where we were last year at this point in time.”
Public demand for COVID-19 testing has started to decrease
Sandra Park-O'Hara, administrator for the Florida Department of Health in Santa Rosa, gave a COVID-19 update to commissioners.
She said the county's overall rate of positives among those tested is about 2.67%.
Park-O'Hara said of the 237 cases in the county, 114 involved long-term care facilities or state correctional facilities. Currently, there are some cases involving LTC staff, but none involving LTC patients.
County staff said there were no COVID-19 cases in the Santa Rosa County Jail, and that the county was in regular communication with Blackwater River Correctional Facility about its COVID-19 management and treatment protocols.
Park-O'Hara added that overall, "At this point, we've had about 4.15% of our population tested, over 7,200 (people)," Park-O'Hara said. "Our goal for May was 2%, so we've doubled that."
She said the state had asked the DOH to continue its testing into June.
"We're looking for businesses that want to have their staff tested … we have seen the demand for testing drop a little bit, especially in those who are not symptomatic, but we still need the data and we are going to continue to pursue that," Park-O'Hara said.
Santa Rosa County will fine tune its vacation rental policy
Santa Rosa County will seek state approval to modify its vacation rental plan to allow visitors on by-county basis rather than on a by-state basis.
In recent weeks, the state has been reviewing and approving individual county's plan for allowing tourists to resume renting Florida vacation homes. There have been blanket restrictions on vacationers from COVID-19 hot spots such as New York and Louisiana.
County staff noted Thursday that even within hotspot states, there were still vast differences in COVID-19 positive rates on a county-by-county level. They used the difference in the numbers of positives in Santa Rosa County and Dade County as an example.
Staff said organizations such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Virginia were now providing easily accessible breakdowns of by-county data that the county and businesses could use in deciding who is an appropriate renter.
Fees waived for families impacted by wildfire
Commissioners voted to waive the impact and permitting fees for families who are rebuilding homes lost in the Five Mile Swamp Fire.
There were 27 buildings destroyed in the 2,000-acre fire, including 14 homes. The estimated value for residential structure losses is $1.9 million. Emergency Management Director Brad Baker said most affected homeowners were insured, and only one family had expressed a need for long-term assistance.
In Thursday’s meeting, commissioners also lifted a ban burn implemented after the wild fire with approval from the Florida Forest Service.
Kevin Robinson can be reached at krobinson4@pnj.com or 850-435-8527.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa seeks $12M in COVID relief