Cape County on track to allocate all CARES Act appropriation

With three months left in the funding cycle, Cape Girardeau County appears to be on track to allocate most or all of its coronavirus relief fund by the end of the year.

The County Commission on Thursday approved another $137,425 in reimbursements for expenses incurred by several businesses in the county related to COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioners also extended the deadline for businesses in the county to submit invoices for coronavirus-related expenses. The deadline, which was Thursday, has now been pushed back to Oct. 16.

Qualified expenses include the cost of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment, as well as cleaning supplies and other items directly related to the pandemic. Businesses interested in applying for coronavirus-related expense reimbursements must provide receipts or invoices to Cape Girardeau Area Magnet, which will, in turn, submit reimbursement applications to the County Commission.

The reimbursements, as well as other expenses related to COVID-19, are being paid through Cape County’s $9.2 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act fund, approved by Congress and allocated to the county by the State of Missouri.

Including the reimbursements approved Thursday, the commission has OK’d approximately $4.8 million in payments to businesses and other organizations to help them pay for their coronavirus expenses. As of Thursday, nearly $1.8 million had been paid with the remaining $3 million in various stages of processing.

“It may not sound right that we’ve only written that many checks, but we’re still waiting on receipts to be approved,” said First District Commissioner Paul Koeper, who has been tracking CARES Act allocations.

Koeper said he expects reimbursement requests to pick up between now and the end of the year.

“If you look at what we’ve approved and what’s coming up, we’re approaching that $9 million that was granted to us,” he said. “It’s all going to come around pretty quickly in the months of November and December.”

Reimbursements approved by the commissioners Thursday, which will be paid through Cape Girardeau Area Magnet, included payments to the following businesses:

• Leet Eye Care — $8,858.22
• Century Casino Cape Girardeau — $90,092.90.
• The Villas of Jackson — $4,548.75.
• Brent Wills Insurance — $1,714.43.
• Bug Zero — $643.00.
• Jackson Medical-Dr. Charles Pewitt — $23,816.64.
• Broussard’s Cajun Cuisine — $1,472.50.
• Thomas L. Meyer Realty Co. — $279.41.

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