{"id":2458866,"date":"2020-05-26T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/pitkin-countys-covid-funding-plan-relies-on-fed-money\/"},"modified":"2020-05-26T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T05:12:00","slug":"pitkin-countys-covid-funding-plan-relies-on-fed-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/pitkin-countys-covid-funding-plan-relies-on-fed-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitkin County\u2019s Covid funding plan relies on fed money"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County could receive more than $2.3 million in reimbursement costs from the federal government for expenses related to the COVID-19 response, an official said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County commissioners are trying to figure out how to pay for an additional 12 full-time staff members to respond to outbreaks in Aspen and Pitkin County, as well as assist businesses and the public in dealing with the onslaught of regulations that have and will continue to go along with efforts to balance daily life and the virus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe want things really dialed-in going in to this winter,\u201d County Manager Jon Peacock said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing now is not sustainable for the Public Health staff. It\u2019s not sustainable not to invest in these preventative strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Two weeks ago, the five-member county board balked at Peacock\u2019s suggestion that they spend between $1.3 million and $2 million out of the county\u2019s general fund to pay for 14 to 18 new full-time employees dedicated to the COVID-19 response. The employees would provide contact-tracing services as well as consumer protection support.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioners at the time directed Peacock to find other solutions to pay for the infrastructure, which is designed to keep both residents and visitors safe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On Tuesday, Peacock lowered the number of proposed COVID-related full-time employees to 12 \u2014 eight contact investigators and four consumer protection employees \u2014 though he said that number of new employees would cost about the same amount of money as the larger number did two weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The final estimate for the 12 employees \u2014 plus a public information spokesperson \u2014 was $1.7 million for 18 months, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">However, he noted that Gov. Jared Polis has said that Pitkin County is set to receive $1.5 million in CARES Act funding the state will distribute. In addition, the county expects to receive $475,000 in further CARES Act funding in 2020 and 2021 meant to reimburse local governments for emergency COVID-related responses, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Finally, Pitkin County is tentatively budgeting another $350,000 in reimbursement funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though those are not expected until 2022, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A majority of commissioners supported Peacock\u2019s plan Tuesday, with Commissioner George Newman urging his fellow board members to give their chief executive permission to proceed and begin hiring staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cDuring states of emergency, we don\u2019t have the luxury of time,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioner Patti Clapper, however, disagreed. She said she wanted more assurances the county would receive the federal funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m really having a hard time with this,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not comfortable until we can vet the (funding) information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Peacock then told the board his staff is working 70 to 80 hours a week, which cannot continue. Projects must be slowed or staff reallocated if the money is not approved, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis is not sustainable, guys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioners will make a final decision on the funding Tuesday during a special meeting, when they will allocate the additional money or not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:jauslander@aspentimes.com\">jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/pitkin-countys-covid-funding-plan-relies-on-fed-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pitkin County could receive more than $2.3 million in reimbursement costs from the federal government for expenses related to the COVID-19 response, an official said Tuesday. Pitkin County commissioners are trying to figure out how to pay for an additional 12 full-time staff members to respond to outbreaks in Aspen and Pitkin County, as well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2458866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-28 11:32:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}