Evers To Allocate $200M In Federal Funds To Local Governments

MADISON, WI — Gov. Tony Evers unveiled a $200 million Routes To Recovery grant program on Wednesday that is aimed at assisting local city leaders with their ongoing efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The funds, Evers announced in the Department of Health Services daily briefing, will be allocated to every Wisconsin county, city, village, town and federally recognized tribe. According to a news release, the program – which is being administered by the Wisconsin Department of Administration – is funded by $200 million in federal coronavirus relief funds. Evers announced that $10 million will be allocated to the state’s tribal nations.

Evers said while local municipalities may have already received financial assistance to help in their fight to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the new grant program will help ensure that cities, towns and villages statewide have the resources needed to keep local residents safe.

“The Route to Recovery grants will provide financial flexibility to communities because they know what they need and how to best address the unique recovery needs of their friends, families, and neighbors,” Evers said.

The announcement of the grant program came on a day when state health officials announced 599 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, which takes the statewide total to 16,462. Wisconsin’s death toll now sits at 539.

Evers said that grant money can be used locally to help support emergency operations activities, to purchase personal protective equipment as well as cleaning and sanitizing services – including those related to elections administration.

The new grant program is being offered after state officials have invested $1 billion to assist local communities in different ways. Evers announced that grant amounts will be determined by the jurisdiction’s population and said the program will ensure that local governments will receive no less than $5,000 regardless of the city of the municipality.

“We know that communities are not ‘one size fits all,” DOA Secretary Joel Brennan said in the news release. “The Routes to Recovery Grants will provide local governments with an additional resource to address the challenges they are seeing on the ground.”