KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri announced on Monday it would begin distributing CARES Act federal stimulus money to counties across the state, but the city of Kansas City is currently slated to receive none of that $2 billion allotment.
"It's just a unique situation that we're in, with St. Louis not being within any county, Kansas City being located within four different counties and not quite making that 500,000 person threshold that allowed them to get direct funding from the federal government," Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick said during a press conference.
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas, and mayors representing more than 1,400 cities who don't hit that population threshold called on Congress to receive direct assistance, instead of relying on county governments who do receive those federal dollars.
Lucas said that money could help pay for paramedic safety, increased testing and contact tracing related to coronavirus cases in the area.
"That's what this money goes to," Lucas said. "This is not for budget backfill."
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Securing those federal funds, according to Lucas, is critical to help those outside of city limits who use important health resources during the pandemic.
"We're not just doing work for Kansas City, but for a lot of others," Lucas said. "That sort of thing has costs, particularly when you're talking about a pandemic like this one. Our overtime staffing for paramedics for firefighters for other first responders has been significant."
And Fitzpatrick is optimistic for a resolution to get Kansas City that money.
"It's all pretty much agreed in principle to pass Kansas City's portion of that money on to Kansas City with the understanding the state would take responsibility and dealing directly with Kansas City about how that money was spent and ensuring that was spent on allowable things under the CARES Act," Fitzpatrick said.
