Per Mayor Curry;
Tomorrow, we will file legislation with the City Council to allocate nearly $160 million in Federal CARES act funds to provide relief to our citizens and support our ongoing response to COVID-19.
This relief program will include:
$40 million in direct stimulus for individuals to provide mortgage, rent and utilities relief. This program will provide $1,000 in relief for 40,000 households who meet certain criteria. You must be a Duval County resident, make less than 75 thousand dollars a year and have lost at least 25 percent of your income because of the COVID-19 crisis to be eligible for this assistance.
$35 million will be allocated toward more COVID-19 testing and testing sites. We will have 6 locations in the city’s planning districts (CPACs) and they will be operational for 6 months.
$12.5 million will go to the City’s COVID-19 emergency account for response expenditures not reimbursed by FEMA.
$26 million to fully fund the City’s obligations to the COVID-19 Small Business Relief and Employee Retention Grant program that we launched in partnership with VyStar Credit Union.
$25 million to offset declines in anticipated City revenues due to COVID-19 (ex: taxes and fees).
Part of this will include waiving nearly $10 million in building and mobility fees to encourage economic development and keep people working.
And $20 million in economic relief to entities that manage and operate City owned facilities and venues. (Ex: TIAA Bank Field, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Florida Theatre, Jacksonville Zoo, Ritz Theatre, Equestrian Center, etc.)
Again, we will file the legislation with City Council tomorrow and issue a news release with more information at that time.