Arizona Uses Federal COVID-19 Money To Cut State Spending

PHOENIX (AP) – Arizona Governor Doug Ducey funneled nearly $ 400 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to state agencies to help pay for operations, allowing them to return part of their original budget allocations to the Public Treasury.

Congress has not allowed states to use money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to replace revenue lost due to the pandemic, and Jared Walczak, vice president of projects State at the Center for State Tax Policy at the Fiscal Foundation, said some states had chosen to liberally interpret the guidance provided by the US Treasury Department.

“Most states have avoided what could be interpreted as directly ignoring the guidelines, but many have been flexible in interpreting those guidelines in the hope that ultimately the Treasury will also be flexible in standards. responsibility, ”Walczak said. “Nonetheless, what’s on offer in Arizona is a very aggressive interpretation.”

Arizona has received over $ 4 billion under the law, and Ducey has wide latitude on how to spend nearly $ 1.9 billion, or nearly a quarter of the total.

Ducey’s office is confident he used the money correctly, said Matt Gress, the governor’s budget manager.

“There’s always a chance listeners will come back and say, ‘We need a little more clarification on X, Y, and Z,’” Gress said. “But I don’t see a scenario in which they say, ‘Give this money back’ because we followed the instructions as clearly as possible.”

Ducey transferred around $ 396 million to the Department of Economic Security, the Department of Health Services and nine other agencies to pay for expenses such as salaries, and the agencies will deposit $ 300 million into the general fund of the State and $ 96 million in other funds.

Some organizations, such as health services, have a clear link with the pandemic. For others, Ducey’s office relied on guidance from the US Treasury Department that the payroll of public health and public safety employees could be presumed to be linked to the pandemic and therefore eligible for funding. by the CARES law.

Using federal money to pay for expenses that would otherwise have been covered by the state has helped stabilize the state budget so Arizona does not have to cut spending on programs such as the education and public safety, Ducey’s spokesperson Patrick Ptak.

“I would add that we know the pandemic is not just about the public health response,” Ptak said.

Learn more about the budget breakdown here.

Arizona reported more than 4,000 additional known COVID-19 cases on Friday for the third time in a week, with related hospitalizations continuing to rise.

Coronavirus in Arizona: Latest case numbers

On November 27, the state’s coronavirus dashboard reported an additional 4,314 cases and 20 deaths, bringing the state’s total to 318,638 cases and 6,588 deaths.

The dashboard reported that 2,301 people had been hospitalized for COVID-19 on Thursday, including 532 in beds in intensive care units.

The number of infections is believed to be much higher than what has been reported because many people have not been tested and studies suggest that people can get infected with the virus without feeling bad.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, which go away within two to three weeks. For some – especially the elderly and people with existing health problems – it can cause more serious illnesses, including pneumonia and death.

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