State Report: Colorado Interim Report on Costs Funded by CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund

Friday, July 17, 2020

DENVER - The Office of State Controller released an interim report today as required by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) Office of Inspector General (OIG).  The report includes costs incurred during the period March 1 through June 30, 2020.   Further clarification is helpful to understand the fiscal challenges facing the state and the overall allocation of federal CARES Act funding. 

Key findings: 

  • The State has fully allocated the $1.674 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) pursuant to the CARES Act. Of that total, $1.1 billion, or 70%, has already been transferred to agencies and sub-recipients for expenditure. 

  • The state expects to expend 100% of the federal funding by the end of 2020 and potentially much sooner. Despite these federal resources, the State estimates additional funding gaps for responding to the public health emergency after December 30th and preventing drastic budget cuts in the next fiscal year. 

  • The National Governors Association has urged the U.S. Congress to provide states with $500 billion in relief funding to help weather the fiscal challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress has yet to act on the next round of relief funding for cash strapped states. 

  • This preliminary reporting of expenditures reflects costs incurred as of June 30 and will increase as the State completes all accounting entries for FY 2019-20.

 

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