ECares Act Funding

The KPBSD attachment includes two pages for your review. The first page is marked DRAFT because the Feds have not yet finalized the exact funding amount that will be distributed to Alaska and the other states for the Elementary and Secondary School Relief Emergency Relief Funds (ESSREF). This page is the best available estimate, and it estimates KPBSD will receive $2,295,953. The second page was the projected breakout of funding from the AK Legislature’s additional $30 million in one-time funding that Governor Dunleavy vetoed. KPBSD would have received $2,072,133 through the one-time funding, but gained an additional $223,820 through the CARES Act funding. We have yet to get any definitive answers related to the expenditure side of these funds. We were on a call with the US Department of Education, and a call with the Alaska Department of Education today and they are both still trying to understand the bill let alone provide guidance. The only thing that is clear at this point, is that the CARES Act funding will not be as easy to spend as Governor Dunleavy indicated when he vetoed the $30 million in one-time funding from the AK Legislature. We will keep you updated as answers materialize.

The KPB attachment includes six pages for your review. They are the sheets that show the Governor’s proposed distribution of the $562.5 million in Direct Municipal Relief for Alaska in the CARES Act funding. It shows in alphabetical order the amounts assigned to incorporated communities and boroughs as per Governor Dunleavy. Column A shows the amount for Community Assistance Payments (CAP). The chart shows the Kenai Peninsula Borough receiving $13,167,154 for CAP, but the asterisk is an important item that needs to be looked at. It reads “* For unincorporated communities inside a borough, CAP payments are made to the eligible municipality.” This means the funds are sent to KPB and KPB then distributes the funds to the unincorporated communities. When I talked with Brandi Harbaugh, Borough Director of Finance, she did not have information as to how it was to be distributed, but said unincorporated places like Anchor Point, Ninilchik, Sterling, Nikiski and many others would be receiving parts of that funding. Direct Cost Distributions are intended to replace funding lost as a direct result of COVID-19, such as sales tax and property tax delinquencies. KPB is scheduled to receive three separate payments of $8,066,367 in Direct Cost Distributions. Per the Governor’s plan these payments would be made on May 1, July 1, and October 1 of 2020. That timing is all dependent upon timely approval by the AK Legislature.