Longboat Key due to receive $3 million in COVID-19 federal relief

Longboat Key is due to receive millions  in COVID-19 funding from the latest federal relief package.

The Florida League of Cities has indicated Longboat Key should expect to receive $3,065,941 after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law.

“We’ve been told that we should receive half of the funds within 60 days,” Longboat Key Town Manager Tom Harmer said.

Harmer said it’s his understanding the town is required to spend the funds from the federal government by 2024.

“It appears that there is a fair amount of flexibility on the use of this fund, so that’ll be at the commission’s discretion,” Harmer said. “As I’ve mentioned, I think the timing is good because we’re entering our budget process, so we know that [there are] commission priorities that maybe are unfunded or underfunded, and so as we look to what’s eligible for these funds, I would say a lot of the focus would be on one-time use.”

The Town Commission has budget workshop meetings set for May 18, June 21 and June 28 to begin the process toward setting a taxation and spending plan for fiscal year 2022.

Citing conversations with Town Finance Director Sue Smith, Harmer said the town has had an estimated revenue loss of $458,803 from the COVID-19 pandemic. The total does not include investment loss, which Harmer said would be difficult to estimate.

Town finances show a revenue reduction of $192,702 in fiscal year 2020, which ended on Sept. 30, 2020. Although it’s still early, the town is estimating a $266,101 loss for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2021.

“I think the town carefully planned through the pandemic [and] made adjustments in our expenses and in our initiatives and plans,” Harmer said. “The impact hasn’t been quite as much as we originally forecast, and that’s a good thing.”

Harmer said there are restrictions on how the town can use the federal funding. He said the town cannot use the funding in the following ways:

• Depositing the money into a pension fund;
• Using the money to directly or indirectly offset tax reductions;
• Using the money to delay a tax or a tax increase.

“The uses are still not clear,” Harmer said. “One of the intents, I think, is to replace revenue lost, but there’s also in the messaging information about using it for infrastructure.”

The federal government is distributing about $362 billion for state and local governments to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes public health and economic impacts.

Harmer said it’s his understanding the federal funding is determined based on a population-based formula. As of Friday, Harmer said he had not seen the specific formula used.

“We’re also wanting to understand the funding that maybe others are receiving in our area,” Harmer said. “How is that being determined? So is the county funding only specific to the unincorporated areas? Is it for the county overall?”

Harmer said town leaders would determine in the coming weeks and months what to do with the money.  

“This funding, from my view, is something that we’ll be careful about, and try to put it to good use for the town and our residents,” Harmer said.