More than $129 million in federal funding for expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic will soon be flowing to Monroe County through the CARES Act, and County Executive Adam Bello is calling for some of it to be spent on hazard pay for county workers most at risk of contracting the virus on the job.
County legislators are being asked to grant some 2,400 staffers extra pay beginning April 4 and running through the county’s State of Emergency. Extra pay of 10 to 20 percent would go to members of the Departments of Public Health, Veterans Services, Public Safety, Aviation, Human and Environmental Services. Also included are the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and employees of Monroe Community Hospital.
The cost to the county will be about $542,000 per pay period, covered through the CARES Act.
Republican Majority Leader Joe Carbone says in a statement that the majority supports the proposal and the county’s frontline workers.