South Florida Cities, Individuals Looking Forward To Latest Stimulus Checks
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Natalia Cano is looking forward to her stimulus check from the American Rescue Plan. "It's like a miracle to a lot of us that this money is being passed on to us by the government," Cano said. "I find it amazing, I couldn't be more grateful."
Because of COVID, her hours at work were cut, leading to financial problems.
"It was very hard for us for a long time. There was a specific set of times where I couldn't afford my rent where I had to move out of my place where I used to live because I just couldn't afford it," Cano said.
The stimulus check will be $1,400 for individuals who make less than $80,000 a year or $2,800 for a couple making less than $150,000.
"Oh my gosh, I'm going to be so happy. It will be a miracle for me and my entire family," Cano said.
Money is going to make its way to local governments too.
Florida will see more than $17 billion dollars, $4 billion to Florida counties, and nearly one and a half billion to cities around the state.
"If 2020 was the year of COVID-19, 2021 will be the year of recovery because of the American Rescue Plan," said Ken Russell, Vice-chair of the Miami City Commission.
Miami is expecting close to 140 million dollars.
Mayor Francis Suarez said that money can help a lot of people.
"Now we're going to get the relief that we need to not only make sure our budget is shored up," Suarez said, "but of course to help the countless people that need food, that need rental assistance, emergency assistance, and small business," he said.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis expects the city will get just shy of 40 million dollars, hopefully, next week. "What's really important is that it's going to help stimulate the economy," Mayor Trantalis said.
Some of that will likely be used to fill a budget shortfall of fewer than 10 million dollars — the rest, he said, should go to people who need it. "We can use it for small business loans, we can use it for rental assistance. We can also use it for homeless people trying to get them out of homelessness," the mayor said.
The White House says people should begin to see those checks in their bank accounts beginning this weekend.