Public Health Director Paul Pettit has an unusual problem, given the perception of a spend-happy climate of many municipal entities these days.
He has only gone through about half of a $1.6 million COVID-19 grant issued to the department for purchases to prevent and deal with COVID-related illnesses.
Pettit just received another in a line of grant amendments from New York State to be able to spend down the remaining funds on needed items, he said. The last extension was given until Dec. 31, 2023.
“So this is the COVID funding. They basically have extended it through July 31 of this year from when it was supposed to expire on December 31. So, you know, currently, we're not spending much of it. Obviously, we are still purchasing some test kits, and we're getting requests for PPE, emergency preparedness supplies and wastewater supplies, which we've been spending the money on, but we believe this will be the last extension. We have about $800,000 left in the grant, I guess it's the last tranche,” Pettit said during Monday’s Human Services meeting.
“I mean, they've kicked it a few times now to this point. Obviously, you know, the CDC changes recommendations were made, and I think the state will probably be adopting those here sometime this week. So you know, I think it's time to move on. I mean, it's helpful to purchase certain supplies with (the money) for sure. This kind of boom bust cycle we see a lot of times with emergency preparedness dollars, you get an event, you get a lot of money, you buy these things and they sit on a shelf and expire, unfortunately, before you need them again," he said. "So, you know, we're trying to balance, obviously, what we can buy that's not potentially going to expire, and expendables, so that we can be prepared for potentially what may come.”
New York State doled out various grants in the thick of the pandemic and beyond to enhance COVID-19 prevention and response measures, including this funding that went to GO Health for purchases of personal protective equipment, testing kits and other resources that, as Pettit said, do not have a short expiration date that would render the items useless in quick time.
The federal government pulled $2.6 trillion from its wallet in response to COVID-19 and spent $1.6 trillion in fiscal year 2020. In July 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul freed up $387 million for COVID relief efforts statewide for everything from encouraging New Yorkers to test early and often, getting them vaccinated and boosted, and readying stockpiles of PPE and 20 million tests ready to deploy.
Legislator Brooks Hawley wanted to know how the county health department was spreading the word about such resources being available locally.
“How do you get this out to the community? I went to Rite Aid, and they’re still selling test kits for $30 at a time,” Hawley said.
Test kits are available in the front of County Building #2 on Route 5 in the town of Batavia, Pettit said. They do have expiration dates, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to stockpile those types of supplies, he said.
“We’ve done different press releases on them before that they're available. We'll get referrals and calls back, you know, people will call, we try to get out as best we can. The demand has started to drop off. Obviously, as we're getting into the spring, our case numbers are down as far as prevalence in the community. So I think it's kind of running its course,” Pettit said. “Unfortunately, a lot of those have expiration dates, so it's kind of a hard one, you don't want to stock up on a bunch of them, because they're gonna expire anyway. But, I mean, if people are looking for them, they're right up front at County Building 2 and at different locations throughout the winter for people to pick up.”
The remaining COVID-19 enhanced detection grant funds of $1,601,284 now have until July 31 to be spent.
