JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As of noon Friday the City of Jacksonville handed out 6,363 pre-paid cards to individuals who qualify for stimulus payments. The funds, about $6 million dollars total, are meant to assist residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Action News Jax is continuing to hear concern from Duval County residents about a lack of City of federal stimulus payments.
A City spokesperson said employees are calling residents on a waiting list, but could not say how many appointments are on the books. They did say it will take at least until the end of the month.
“It’s just frustrating, very frustrating,” Karen Saunders said. “Being on Social Security is a low income and that’s very hard to live off of. And with the prices of food and everything else going up, you’re (Social Security) doesn’t go up.”
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Saunders is a 71-year-old retired resident in Duval County. She said she applied for a stimulus payment from the city and federal government but has not received any yet.
“I have no place to go,” Saunders said. “You can’t call IRS, there is no answer. Social security have no information on it. So you’re stuck in a high place. Where do you go?”
Jacksonville City Councilmember Garrett Dennis proposed a new ordinance to allocate additional funds to relief efforts.
The proposed ordinance would take $5 million dollars from the city’s building inspection reserve and allocate it to another department with higher demand. They said there is currently $17 million in the reserve and no building inspections scheduled for the next six months.
City council did not vote on this proposal Friday. Members decided to have further discussion of where this funding would go before a decision is made.
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