COVID-19 money pays salaries

    A lion’s share of the coronavirus relief funds Cherokee County received from the state most likely will be used for payroll expenses. 
    According to a tentative plan submitted to the state last month, county officials expect to spend about $536,645 on “payroll expenses for public safety, public health, health care, human services and similar employees whose services are substantially dedicated to mitigating or responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency.”
    “If we can attribute their time directly to COVID-19, we can use that money [to pay] them,” county finance director Candy Anderson said.
    The amount expected to be spent on payroll expenses is nearly 75 percent of the $715,527 Cherokee County has thus far received from the state. The plan, which can be changed as circumstances evolve, estimates that $35,776 will be used on “medical expenses,” $35,777 will be used on “public health expenses” and $107,329 will be used on “expenses of actions to facilitate compliance with COVID-19 related public health measures” such as food delivery, distance learning, teleworking, paid leave for public employees, sanitation of jail facilities and care for the homeless population.
    The state is expected to distribute another $550,300 to Cherokee County within the next few weeks, which will bring the total amount of coronavirus relief funds received by the county to $1,265,827. In turn, the county will distribute $317,707 of that money to the towns of Murphy and Andrews, based on population. The towns are also required to submit a plan as to how the money will be spent.
    To ensure accountability and proper facilitation, the state requires the county to establish a monetary fund separate from its general fund.
    “The coronavirus relief fund is simply for better record-keeping and reporting,” Anderson said. “Everything in the fund will be COVID-related, so that all of the county’s invoices will not have to be reviewed in order to determine which expenditures apply to these relief funds.”
    County officials are still in the process of compiling exact expenditures related to COVID-19, as the state is allowing them to go back to March 1, before the Stay-at-Home lockdown was even implemented.