JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jacksonville received hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to help people. It was all part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which was passed in 2021 and was signed by President Joe Biden.
The city has spent most of that money but now there is nearly $65 million left, and as the saying goes: it’s time to use it or lose it.
Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration is now looking at how to spend that remaining money.
During the pandemic, the city and the federal government paid for things like testing, testing sites and gave help to those who had trouble paying rent. Two years ago Jacksonville received over $350 million from the feds for some of those programs and got another $160 million in CARES Act money, the COVID-19 relief package signed by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
A good portion of the leftover money is now going to UF Health Jacksonville and it will be used for people who need medical assistance. A total breakdown of how it’s going to be spent wasn’t immediately available.
The mayor’s budget review committee is slating $40 million of that money for UF Health. $15 million of that will go to help the underserved and the other $25 million for the hospital building itself.
As far as the rest of the money, $10 million will be used for city employees’ health care premiums to help hold down the cost of insurance which taxpayers pay for. And $13 million is going to help pay for some of the initiatives the mayor’s transition task force is going to recommend.
“They’re looking at crime prevention, they’re looking at infrastructure, all the things that the American Rescue Plan was really designed to help with,” said Mike Weinstein, City of Jacksonville Interim Finance Director.
And with this money, the city said it won’t have to borrow money to make needed improvements, it’s more of a pay-as-you-go plan.