Sens. Sinema, Kelly demand AZ receives fair share of COVID-relief funds
KYMA
By Caleb Fernandez
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KYMA, KECY) – Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly urged the Secretaries of the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development Departments to ensure Arizona communities received their fair share of Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CLFRF) in the American Rescue Plan.
“Arizona’s cities and towns shouldered incredible responsibilities during the pandemic and deserve their fair share of these crucial resources,” expressed the two senators.
Thanks to Sinema and Kelly’s advocacy, the American Rescue Plan included over $2.6 billion for Arizona cities, towns, counties, and tribal communities to prevent cuts to local first responders and essential services.
However, Several Arizona communities have recently expressed concerns that their funding allocations significantly deviated from original estimates. Seven Arizona communities—Buckeye, Goodyear, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Maricopa, Prescott Valley and Queen Creek—received substantially less funding from the CLFRF than was estimated at the time of the American Rescue Plan’s passage.
These estimates had led communities to budget their CLFRF resources to address the health and economic challenges facing their residents. Given the decreased CLFRF allocations, the pandemic response has been disrupted in these seven communities.
“That’s why we’re working closely with Arizona’s local leaders to ensure our cities and towns get all of the relief funding needed to avoid local cuts to first responders and essential services,” continued Sinema and Kelly.
In their letter, Sinema and Kelly asked the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development Departments for detailed information about how the funding levels were determined for these communities and whether the allocations were accurate, based on the language of the American Rescue Plan and the size of the communities.