Hunter
02/24/22
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted to approve direct stimulus payments to low- to -moderate income residents chosen randomly through a lottery system.
The five-member board was divided on the subject, with Supervisors Jon Green and Rod Sullivan favoring a revamped plan. Chair Royceann Porter, Pat Heiden, and Lisa Green-Douglass favor the original plan.
The county plans to earmark $2 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds to create a Direct Assistance Program. $1400 payments would be sent to those chosen through a lottery-style system. The City of Iowa City has discussed contributing additional funds.
The Press-Citizen says there are thousands more who have been negatively-impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and will not get assistance. Community members have pushed the County to use all of their ARPA funds to provide payments to those who didn’t get stimulus checks, most often undocumented immigrants. The county has indicated that they will use the funds across a wide spectrum spectrum of programs, including affordable housing, eviction prevention, infrastructure, and childcare.
The paper reports that during Wednesday’s session, Porter went on for about thirteen minutes expressing her frustration over the program and dialogue in the county that has taken place over the past several months. She said she didn’t support prioritizing giving federal money to undocumented workers, because they might send the money abroad to family members.
1101 Porter : “Just last month…negative economic impact.” :38
The vote on the program was supposed to take place last week but delayed after Supervisor Jon Green received guidance from the US Treasury Department suggesting that the county would be allowed to create a program to target payments to excluded workers. Green’s correspondence reportedly accused his fellow Supervisors of playing politics, while Porter has accused Green of not coming to the office and fully communicating with the rest of the board.
Program details, including required documentation, application timelines, and FAQs will be released soon. Additional information is available at https://www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov/direct-assistance-program.