In an effort to offset municipal expenses associated with COVID-19, Burlington County towns were recently recipients of $5.62 million in CARES Act funding. The county also received $2.5 million.
This support comes from the state’s share of the federal CARES Act and benefited counties and municipalities excluded from the federal government’s Coronavirus Relief Fund allocation, based on populations below 500,000.
For Delran, that equaled $193,270 in direct aid.
“We were elated to hear we were getting it,” Mayor Ken Paris said. “The coronavirus has had a major impact.”
The township has had to put out a fair amount of money to keep everyone safe since COVID-19 arrived in South Jersey in March, including buying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for employees, modifying the infrastructure of the municipal building with plexiglass walls and partitions, and equipping police vehicles with an ultraviolet light screen system.
“The other major impact was basically the revenue being down,” Paris said.
This includes the impact of businesses, some of which had to close, and consequently the township feeling the effect of losing the revenue from those coming into town to support businesses. The percentage of residents paying taxes has also been lower.
“I think as a whole, though, we did very well as a town with the situation we were confronted with,” Paris added.
The mayor said he has strived to cut back on spending and raise the township’s surplus since he first got into office.
“Our surplus is excellent in Delran. That’s a good thing that we have, a rainy day fund to deal with this type of situation,” Paris said.
The CARES Act funding will be used to offset coronavirus-related expenditures borne by the township. The program earmarks it specifically for this purpose, which can include public safety and health-related expenses, COVID-related overtime, increased residential and health-related garbage collection and services, and remote working technology.
The funds were announced at a press conference in Evesham Township earlier this month. Gov. Phil Murphy attended the event with Burlington County Deputy Director Tom Pullion, Congressmen Andy Kim and Donald Norcross and Evesham Mayor Jaclyn Veasy.
“Local governments have stepped up to meet the needs of their communities throughout this pandemic, and we are strengthening their efforts today with $60 million dollars in direct relief,” Murphy said at the press conference. “We know these funds will be a welcome lifeline of support for essential government services and New Jersey’s taxpayers.”
With the predicted uptick in COVID cases this fall and winter, Paris said he would hope more funding would become available if needed – but not just for Delran.
“I don’t think it would just be the township. I think it should be every municipality and every county throughout the state,” he added.
Paris said the CARES Act has done a lot and is for “the majority of residents in New Jersey,” including additional unemployment benefits for those out of work, economic impact relief for small businesses and student loan deferments.
“I just hope we can get through this as soon as possible. I just want the safety of the children as well as the seniors and everyone else to be first in everybody’s mind,” Paris reflected. “I know everybody wants to get out and do different things, but we have to be cautious with
