Kern County to receive more than $157 million from CARES Act

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Kern County Board of Supervisors announced it will receive over $157 million from the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act.

According to Chief Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop, the board of supervisors will discuss how to spend those funds at its Tuesday afternoon meeting.

These funds are part of the over-$2 trillion U.S. CARES Act, designed to mitigate financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic across the country. Last week the county received its funds, deposited into a Special Revenue Fund.

According to the county's Coronavirus Relief Fund Initial Utilization Plan, the county plans to spend $108 million on local government support, $35 million towards small business support, and $4 million on safety net services.

For small business support, $25 million will go towards a small business support program. The county said that program will focus on support for local small businesses impacted by the coronavirus in a manner yet to be determined. The other $10 million will go towards a small business reopening fund program focused on helping small businesses that have been forced to close by COVID-19 reopen.

The $4 million set to go towards safety net services will be split in half between fund for assisting the homeless population and half allocated to food insecurity needs.

The plan will be discussed during the 2 p.m. session Tuesday.