How will Delaware spend $1 billion in federal COVID-19 funds? Some details coming soon

Thanks to the latest federal stimulus package, Delaware plans to spend $1 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds on new health care facilities, internet access and rehiring in the private sector.

In March, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law. It expanded unemployment benefits and child tax credits while also sending pots of money to state and local governments mostly for continued COVID-19 response.

The money given to the state, which is separate from other pots of money given to local governments and schools, can be used for business assistance, broadband and wastewater. It can also be used to give direct premium payments to essential workers who make less than $13 per hour as compensation for going to work in person during the pandemic.

But Delaware doesn't plan to issue direct premium payments to essential workers and will instead use the money to "boost employment" in industries such as long-term care, food, hospitality and "other essential jobs," according to a 13-page document that Delaware officials sent to the federal government at the end of August.

It will be too hard to determine which essential workers would be eligible for premium payments, said former Department of Correction Commissioner Claire DeMatteis, who in June was appointed by Gov. John Carney to oversee federal stimulus funding and crisis management projects.

"For every person in the state who worked during COVID, as Herculean as that was, it's almost infinite," DeMatteis said. "Where do you stop?"

Unclear exactly how money will be spent, but some promises made

Only a few dollar amounts are divulged in the document, which DeMatteis said is because the state is still waiting on final rules from the federal government.

The federal government has given non-finalized rules to the state and officials expect to get the final rules sometime in October. The current rules say the state has until the end of 2024 to spend all the money, while it has until Dec. 31 of this year to spend all of its CARES Act money.

"There's a lot of questions still up in the air, on what we can and cannot fund and the time period until we get that final rule," DeMatteis said.

There are some things that officials have already decided to bank on, including spending about $110 million on universal broadband access. It will make Delaware the first state to "close every last mile of connectivity statewide," according to the document.

The state is giving $26.4 million of the funds to an existing Riverside neighborhood revitalization project run by the nonprofit REACH Riverside. The money is meant to help build 350 affordable homes in two years, according to a Monday press release.

During a Monday press conference, Carney promised the project would add housing units, school services and health care services to the poverty-stricken community in northeast Wilmington.

Carney is scheduled to announce more American Rescue Plan-funded projects on Tuesday and Wednesday, likely to get hard-hit industries back to pre-pandemic employment levels and build new health care facilities.

"This has been a recurring need in our state to invest in a new state hospital for the chronically ill, and we just never had that big of a number in extra money to fund it," DeMatteis said. "But we do now."

Officials plan to use some of the money for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and other virus-related projects like improving air vent systems in prisons and community centers (school districts got their own local American Rescue Plan funding to improve school air vents).

The state also plans to build a $20 million public health lab in Smyrna to handle infectious diseases. The state's current lab is "inadequate" and "small," DeMatteis said.

More:American Rescue Plan: See how much your Delaware town could get in federal COVID-19 aid

Delaware details some spending priorities

Officials also hope to use funds to build facilities, such as a health clinic and community center near the new school to replace the Bancroft School in Wilmington, which DeMatteis said would help fulfill community needs. That project hasn't been green-lighted yet.

The state also wants to use the money for mental health treatment, according to the document.

Officials also expect to invest in financial incentives to regain full employment at long-term care facilities, putting money back into the Unemployment Trust Fund and rehiring initiatives for the service and tourism industries. Delaware also intends to use the money on clean water and sewer projects.

Delaware isn't able to use American Rescue Plan money to pay for some infrastructure projects such as bike paths, parks, roads and bridges, but they are expecting to pay for those projects through the federal infrastructure bill that Congress is expected to pass in the next week or so, DeMatteis said.

Some federal funds will go to projects for building and preserving affordable housing, according to the document.

That includes a "catalyst fund" to renovate vacant and abandoned property and "revitalize" neighborhoods through public-private partnerships. That fund will also pay for rehabilitation assistance and down payment assistance for homebuyers, according to the document.

There are an estimated 1,500 vacant homes and businesses in Wilmington alone, and officials are working on a plan to "buy them up, tear them down, rebuild them," DeMatteis said.

TOWNS, CITIES GET SEPARATE FUNDING:American Rescue Plan: See how much your Delaware town could get in federal COVID-19 aid

OTHER AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN BENEFITS:Here's what Delawareans will get out of Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus relief package

Sarah Gamard covers government and politics for Delaware Online/The News Journal. Reach her at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGamard.