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City of Henderson taking input on federal COVID relief fund spending

Tuesday marks last day for public survey
Posted at 6:08 AM, Aug 24, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-24 10:09:24-04

HENDERSON (KTNV) — Pandemic-related shutdowns and capacity limits on businesses crippled tax revenues in governments across the country, and the situation was no different for the city of Henderson.

The city will receive two installments of $18,684,214 over two years in federal COVID relief funds and is asking people in the community to tell them how to best spend the money.

Tuesday is the last day for people to fill out a survey posted on the city's website.

Grant Administrator Leslie Nix said public input is critical because there's no road map in place for recovering from a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

"A pandemic like this, we haven't lived through," she said. "We don't know how it affects people, businesses, niche markets."

While there have been no final decisions made about the use of COVID said, a budget proposal outlines several areas where city leaders are looking to make use of the money.

Priorities include testing and vaccine distribution, job training, coronavirus prevention in vulnerable areas like nursing homes, mental health services and more.

Not all of the funds would go toward programs and services for people and businesses in the city.

Nix says the city lost out on roughly $36 million in projected tax revenue in 2020, and the city developed several expensive programs like early childhood care, residential and business grants, and vaccine and testing distribution during the same period.

The budget proposal shows more than $25 million could be used to recoup from revenue losses and continue support programs.

"Nothing is set in stone," Nix said, "We just think those are some good areas to start digging into to see is this where we want to invest our money and do we think it's going to get a good return on investment."

Nix said Henderson is under a federal deadline to have a plan together by Aug. 31.