TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Leon County commissioner Bill Proctor released a $3.5 million, four-part coronavirus relief proposal on Tuesday.
Proctor's four-part relief proposal focuses on funding in four areas: beefing up health services for the uninsured, monetary support for nonprofits, giving community centers monetary relief and cutting utility charges by half.
PART 1: Medical Relief Package: $1.5 million
Protor is proposing that city and county leaders make $1.5 million available for grants to area medical providers who have been forced out of work due to "the elevated focus upon fighting the COVID-19 virus."
PART 2: Non-Profit Relief Package: $1 million
The commissioner also wants to see $1 million made available to all non-profit agencies, not to exceed $5,000 per agency, regardless of previous association or affiliation as a publicly funded entity.
"There was strong public response to the one million dollar grant relief program which the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency sponsored," Proctor said. "I propose that we model support for this community in a similar manner of applying and being approved as was adopted as a process executed for local businesses last week."
PART 3: Community Health Centers Relief: $1 million
Proctor's plan would also allot $1 million for Bond Community and Neighborhood Health Centers. Both have experienced high demands and strain during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"TMH cannot reach or serve beyond its current load of challenges," said Proctor. "Many Neighborhood and Bond clients have no insurance, and cannot or will not be admitted into TMH at this time. If Bond and Neighborhood collapse, we would have an intensified pandemic effect for sure in the state capital."
PART 4: Cut Utility Rates 50 percent
In addition, Proctor is requesting the City Commission to drop utility rates by 50 percent for the next three billing cycles.
"We must move the actual needle of cost and cut utility charges in half, as opposed to deferring or rearranging the full payment of these debts to a later schedule," Proctor said. It is both legal and moral to cut prices in periods of declared emergency... in order to stave off the myriad ravishes of the coronavirus pandemic."
