CARES Act Funding Going Out To Cities, Counties Across Oklahoma

Wednesday, June 17th 2020, 4:45 pm

By: Erica Rankin

When CARES Act funds were handed over to states, Gov. Kevin Stitt created a team that was in charge of putting together a platform to be able to get money out the door.

"I am proud to stand here today to say we have developed a system that is already getting national attention from peers in other states of how we are setting this up,” Stitt said in a press conference on Wednesday.

In the first seven days of receiving applications from cities and counties across Oklahoma, the state was able to fulfill 30% of the requests.

"The state is committed to helping all of our local governments navigate and reimburse them for all COVID-19 related expenses,” Stitt said.

The state ended up receiving more than 60 applications that added up to $7.5 million in requests. As of Wednesday, 21 of the cities and counties are set to receive their requested amounts which added up to $2.1 million.

"We greatly appreciate the efforts that Gov. Stitt has made to make this process incredibly easy and quick. The speed of it defies government,” said Chris Reding, Payne County Commissioner.

The state’s will begin receiving reimbursement applications from cities and counties again from July 1 to 10.