Counties Urge the Governor to Allocate Federal Funds Based on Responsibility for Pandemic Response

Last Friday, RCRC joined a coalition of county stakeholders to urge Governor Newsom to allocate federal funding provided by the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) based on direct service responsibilities for local pandemic response. Some cities are requesting that federal funds be diverted from critical county services to address significant city revenue losses (losses which counties are also experiencing). And, while all of local governments are currently struggling, counties cannot afford to move critical federal funding away from public health and social safety net programs.

The full letter from the coalition may be viewed here.

County funding for coronavirus response is receiving a great deal of attention in state and federal relief efforts. While counties seek continued conversations with the Newsom Administration about how to allocate the remaining amount of local government funding in the CRF, RCRC continues to pursue direct federal funding for counties below 500,000 in population in the upcoming relief package(s) being negotiated Washington D.C. An update on those efforts can also be found in this special edition of The Barbed Wire.