MADISON — On May 27, Gov. Tony Evers announced the launch of the “Routes to Recovery: Local Government Aid Grants” program, a $200 million effort aimed at helping local leaders address some of their most urgent and unique COVID-19 recovery needs. Administered by the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA), Routes to Recovery Grants will be allocated to every Wisconsin county, city, village, town, and federally-recognized tribe.
Routes to Recovery Grants for Wisconsin counties, cities, villages and towns will provide reimbursements for unbudgeted expenditures incurred this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the following categories:
- Emergency operations activities, including those related to public health, emergency services, and public safety response;
- Purchases of personal protective equipment;
- Cleaning/sanitizing supplies and services, including those related to elections administration;
- Temporary isolation housing for infected or at-risk individuals;
- Testing and contact tracing costs above those covered by existing State programs;
- FMLA and sick leave for public health and safety employees to take COVID-19 precautions; and
- Meeting local match requirements for expenses submitted for reimbursement by FEMA, to the extent allowed by federal law.
The effort is funded by $200 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act dollars and will be administered by the DOA. Find more information regarding the Routes to Recovery Grants, including the allocation amounts for counties and municipalities.
More than two months ago, the WPPA met with Gov. Evers to inform him and his administration as to how the pandemic was not only affecting law enforcement agencies, but officers on an individual level as well. At that time, numerous local governments had begun to improperly force officers to use their accrued benefit leave time while undergoing administrative quarantine periods due to their potential exposure to the coronavirus. Officers that have had to use their own benefit time for this purpose should contact their WPPA business agent and/or request that their employers restore that leave time and seek reimbursement for these expenses through the local government aid program announced today.
For more information about this aid program, please feel free to contact WPPA Executive Director Jim Palmer at .