Monroeville anticipates $2.7 million in total covid-19 relief

Monroeville officials are planning to receive a total of $2.7 million from the latest stimulus bill signed into law March 11.

The money is coming from a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which includes funding for counties and local municipalities. All stimulus payments directed at local communities will be sent in two batches.

Monroeville’s first batch of $1.3 million is scheduled to arrive June 10, said Municipal Manager Tim Little. The second payment will come around that time in 2022. The manager said the money will help the municipality make up for lost revenue, the total of which is still being calculated, he said.

“We’ll have a tax report in May, but we’ve been projecting the biggest losses in our business and mercantile tax revenue. So I think this money will be making up for that lost revenue,” he said, adding that the money has not been earmarked for anything in particular.

Earlier this year, when council ratified the municipality’s $35.7 million budget for 2021, Little projected a combined loss of $3.1 million in earned income, business, mercantile and delinquent taxes.

Monroeville Tax Collector Pat Fulkerson said the anticipated losses in the municipality’s business privilege and mercantile taxes will not be as drastic as anticipated, though.

“We were surprised by the mercantile tax and business privilege taxes, how they came in,” he said, declining to give specific numbers until the monthly report is ready in May. “They probably won’t reach normalcy, but they won’t be at the levels anticipated back in October. And we don’t have a crystal ball, but certain industries went up and some went down.”

According to the law, the stimulus money sent to local municipalities must be spent by the end of 2024 on projects that include reimbursement and expenses related to the pandemic. It can also be used as grants to assist small businesses, nonprofits and industries impacted by the pandemic, along with water, sewer and broadband projects. It cannot be spent to lower taxes or to pay into municipal pension funds.

Funding totals were based on population figures compiled by U.S. Senate Democrats. But other factors came into play, as well, Little said. Some municipalities and cities, such as Penn Hills and McKeesport, are slated for larger sums because of the amount of Community Development Block Grant funds those communities qualify for — which is based on median income levels.

Below is a chart that shows how much money each municipality in Pennsylvania is expected to receive.