Killingly develops application process for COVID relief cash

KILLINGLY — Town officers are generating standardized application forms that, when completed by numerous requesters, will be scrutinized by City Council associates right before nearly $4 million in federal COVID-19 aid funding is dispersed.

Town Manager Mary Calorio said the programs will give an “apples-to-apples” framework for councilors to weigh the incoming requests although also putting the onus on solicitors to make their circumstance for needing a piece of the town’s American Rescue Approach, or ARP, money.

The city in June was notified it would get $1.97 million in federal relief funding with a identical quantity slated to be authorised future year. Calorio mentioned towns that fulfill federal threshold pointers linked to diminished profits have extensive latitude in allotting the funding.

“We’ve gotten a lot of requests from exterior companies, like various nonprofits, for assistance and these apps will involve facts on an applicant’s need if they meet up with ARP eligibility requirements and what their prolonged-phrase reporting strategies are for use of the money,” she stated. “We really don’t just publish an agency a examine for this money. There is ongoing reporting required so that if those people cash aren’t staying used the right way, they have to be paid out back. Or the U.S. Treasury will need the town to repay it. This is one more layer of defense for the town.”