The Anchorage Assembly budgeted $50,000 of CARES Act funds for a website to explain where the $156 million in CARES Act money went, but the website is not entirely helpful, although it is translated into several languages, such as Vietnamese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Samoan.
In its own words, the $50,000 was for the Assembly to educate the community and create awareness on the use of Coronavirus Relief Funds. In reality, the Assembly created a low-grade website with superficial information. But $50,000 was a rounding error for the $156 million grant.
You can explore it at this link and give the Anchorage Assembly feedback at links therein:
Anchorage Assembly CARES Act website
The website shows that the municipality has spent $104 million of the $156 million it received in federal CARES Act funding. It must expend all of its funds before the end of the year.
Semi-complete details of expenditures of CARES Act funds
The information made public on the website is not exactly a fulsome explanation. Researchers must go to different places in the Municipality of Anchorage’s website to find out more. Even then, it’s unclear where the money is actually going. That level of transparency is missing.
For instance, the website says there is $14 million set aside for hospitality and restaurants, but only $4.2 million has been granted. It also says $3.49 million was still available earlier this month. A Dec. 13 deadline may have wiped out that amount, but it still doesn’t account for the entire $14 million that the Muni says it set aside.
Tier A businesses — bars — that were required to close down earlier this year, and again in December, were eligible to receive up to $30,000.
Tier B businesses, such as restaurants and breweries, were only eligible for up to $15,000, according to the Muni website.
Small businesses that were not restaurants, bars, or hotels, received $4.9 million, with $1.56 million remaining in the appropriation bucket. 529 grants were awarded.
To learn which small businesses received grants this summer, you’ll have to go to the Acting Mayor of Anchorage’s press release archive in a different location on the Muni website, where the first list was posted in October.
