Whatcom Council creates emergency response fund for coronavirus, puts in $1.5 million
The Whatcom County Council has created an emergency fund to help pay for a ramped-up, local response to the COVID-19 pandemic and put $1.5 million into it.
Members did so on Tuesday, March 31 — seeding the fund with another $250,000 approved by the County Council, $250,000 promised by the city of Bellingham, and a $1 million loan from the county Public Utilities Improvement Fund, also referred to as the EDI Fund.
The county’s EDI pot has a little over $15 million in it, according to Whatcom County documents.
County budget officials said they expected to pay back that loan with funding assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which they said would allow them to eventually recoup about 75% of the costs for responding to COVID-19 and its impact on Whatcom County.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/whatcom-council-creates-emergency-response-fund-for-coronavirus-puts-in-dollar15-million/ar-BB11ZxfT
