The City of Killeen is spending $294,000 on coronavirus-related expenditures.
The question everyone has is, "What expenses in particular will the $294,000 budget cover?"
Leslie Hinkle, Director of Community Development said, “March of 2020 the president signed into a law… The Cares Act which granted several opportunities for cities to combat the coronavirus in their communities … the city was awarded a little over 1.3 million and we have been using those funds.
Hinkle explained, the money is going toward utility, mortgage, and rental assistance programs, as well as, testing and vaccine clinics.
She added, “It’s strictly an administrative situation for us, instead of keeping track of a lot of little budgets, we do one big budget, and we still have the flexibility to use the coronavirus money for the way it was intended, to prepare, prevent and respond to the coronavirus in our community. “
Hinkle said the money serves the same purpose now as it did in 2020.
The only difference is, the council shifted the remaining funds into a different budget category called, "public health and public safety" which focuses on taxpauer's wellbeing and standard of living if affected by the pandemic.
