The Doña Ana County government will use some of the money it received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide "hazard pay" to crucial county employees.
The County Commission approved $320,000 of CARES Act funding for the hazard pay program at their Tuesday meeting. The county received $1.4 million in local government grant money and $3,039,750 for small business grants from a state allocation of the federal COVID-19 relief funding.
The $320,000 will come out of the the local government grant allotment and will be paid to qualifying county employees until the end of the calendar year. County Manager Fernando Macias said the intent is to dole out the money over the remaining six pay periods of the year by building it into employees' paychecks. Up to $750 will be paid to employees "that perform hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship" during the pandemic over the remaining pay periods, according to the county resolution.