Covid relief bill won’t bring direct aid to local government; Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin reacts

COLUMBIA (WOLO): Direct aid for local and state governments is falling by the wayside in the new Covid relief bill.

“It’s times like these that the federal government is supposed to step up and help. This bill fails, quite frankly,” says Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. 

The new 900 billion dollar Covid relief bill passed Monday leaves local governments with no help to fill a large budget gap caused by the pandemic, which Mayor Benjamin says could be to the tune of well over several hundred billion dollars. 

“These are our tax payer’s dollars that go to D.C. every April 15th and now we’re asking some of that to be sent back home to deal with these extraordinary times. “ 

Senator Bernie Sanders (D) Vermont says, “We provided zero financial aid to states and localities all over this country who are suffering devastating financial problems, which means they’ll have to lay off firemen, police officers, and teachers…”

But here at home, that won’t happen. 

Columbia’s budgeting talks begin in January, and the Mayor says the city was armed and ready for this year’s economic hardship. 

“It allowed us to carve $30 million dollars out of our general fund budget this year. We will not be raising taxes, we will not be reducing funding to public safety or fire safety, we will not be slowing down our infrastructure investments.”

With or without federal funding to local governments though, Mayor Benjamin is hopeful our local community will survive.

“I am happy that there is more direct assistance to small businesses with extension of the paycheck protection program, and an even greater focus on restaurants.”