Spokane, other cities receive more coronavirus relief funding

More than a dozen cities and towns in Spokane County will receive another economic boost from coronavirus aid.

Spokane and Spokane Valley will receive $3.3 million and $1.45 million, respectively, in the new round of funding announced by the state Department of Commerce this week.

The cities received $6.6 million and $2.9 million, respectively, in the first round of funding released by Gov. Jay Inslee in May.

There is no shortage of need among the local businesses and nonprofits forced to navigate the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus in Spokane County, which remains paused in Phase 2 of Inslee’s reopening plan.

The challenge, however, will be spending the new CARES money prior to the state’s Oct. 31 deadline.

The state first allocated $300 million of its funding from the federal The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to local governments in May. On Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state would distribute another $125 million to cities, towns and counties.

The city of Spokane dished out CARES dollars over two rounds of funding in August. In the first, it awarded $2.9 million to nonprofits that would administer grants to small locally owned businesses, provide rental and housing assistance for low-income residents, and support to child care providers.

In a second $1.1 million round of funding announced just two weeks later, the city funneled money directly to local nonprofits, primarily those that will support students as they enter a new school year entirely online.

Spokane Valley distributed its funds earlier than Spokane, agreeing in July to spend $734,000 on rental and mortgage assistance, $260,000 on utility assistance, $237,000 on food security, $839,000 on small business grants, $412,000 on nonprofit grants, $81,000 on school districts and $75,000 to hospitality and businesses unable to open until Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan.

But as the Oct. 31 deadline looms, city spokesman Brian Coddington said issuing a third request for proposals and fielding applicants for the latest funding could prove difficult given the compressed timeline.

The administration, working with the City Council, will have to weigh whether it’s more fair and efficient to simply direct the new funding toward nonprofits that already received city CARES money, or go through another grant review process that could stretch through September.

“Time is not on our side on this,” Coddington said.

Spokane Valley Mayor Ben Wick is thinking along similar lines.

He believes it might be most prudent to funnel the new money into the existing channels, but said the City Council will have to discuss the issue at an upcoming meeting.

“We have allocated all of our existing funds to different groups,” Wick said. “Tomorrow is the deadline for our business grants and nonprofit grants and I know that we have about double the amount of businesses (that applied) than we had funding for.”

The money was sent only to cities, towns and counties representing fewer than 500,000 residents. Those with larger populations, such as Spokane County, received CARES Act funding directly from the federal government.

The federal government set a deadline of Dec. 31 to spend CARES Act funds; the state set its time to allow state and local governments adequate time to process the spending reports.

There have been calls to push back the deadline, but for now, Coddington said Spokane is operating under the assumption that the Oct. 31 date will hold.