Recovery Plan Performance Report

State and Local Fiscal Recovery 

Funds

2021 Report
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Lake County, Florida

2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report

Table of Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................3

Uses of Funds .........................................................................................................................3

Promoting Equitable Outcomes ...............................................................................................6

Community Engagement .........................................................................................................7

Labor Practices .......................................................................................................................8

Use of Evidence ......................................................................................................................9

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category...........................................................................9

Project Inventory .....................................................................................................................9

Appendix ...............................................................................................................................10
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Executive Summary 

As a recipient of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF or ‘Fiscal 

Recovery Funds’) and with a population that exceeds 250,000 residents, Lake County 

Government (‘County’) is required to publish a Recovery Plan Performance Report (‘Recovery 

Plan’) for the U.S. Treasury and the residents of the County as part of its reporting requirements

on how the County plans to utilize its share of the Fiscal Recovery Funds.

The county will receive a total of $71,308,368 in two tranches, or installments, this year and next 

year. The Lake County Board of County Commissioners (‘BCC’) officially accepted the first half 

($35,654,184) of the total appropriated amount at the July 13, 2021, meeting via Resolution 

2021-104, as required by Florida State Statutes. 

This 2021 Recovery Plan is the first in a series of annual reports to be published by the County. 

The Recovery Plan is to provide a blueprint for the jurisdiction’s intended use as well as the 

actual use of funding. The information in this initial report is limited in nature due to the novelty 

of the funding itself, the short reporting period, need to properly plan for expenditures, and 

pending final rules on allowable uses of funding. 

As the development of this initial recovery plan progressed, so did the uncertainty surrounding

the public health emergency and associated variants prolonging the public health crisis. Despite 

this uncertainty, County elected officials and staff have begun to identify some initial overall 

goals in the use of the Fiscal Recovery Funds. These include strategies to ensure continuity of 

services and operations of the County government, efforts to improve the health and well-being 

of residents, and infrastructure projects to provide for a more equitable recovery. 

Following the Executive Summary is the eligible use categories and potential Use of Funds

section. Included at the end of the section is additional information on the programs provided by 

the County as part of supplemental funding received through the American Rescue Plan. 

Thereafter are sections on Promoting Equitable Outcomes, Community Engagement, Labor 

Practices, Use of Evidence, and the Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category. 

Uses of Funds

In planning for the long range and forward-looking nature of the Fiscal Recovery Funds, 

leadership and staff can simply look to our own Mission, Goals, and Objectives for guidance. In 

fact, the eligibility and allowable uses of Fiscal Recovery Funds align with the County’s

established Mission and Goals. Below is our mission statement and full list of goals.

Mission Statement

“To provide exceptional service; enhance and protect the quality of life for all Lake County 

citizens; facilitate a vibrant economy with an abundance of workforce opportunities; and 

exercise fiscal responsibility, while using innovative approaches and making well-planned 

decisions.”
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Goals

Goal 1: Provide exceptional public safety and emergency response services to achieve a safe 

and secure community.

Goal 2: Facilitate a strong and diversified economy.

Goal 3: Plan, develop and maintain a high-quality, safe, and reliable transportation network.

Goal 4: Deliver exceptional customer service in a friendly and professional manner and assure 

fiscal responsibility throughout the organization.

Goal 5: Enhance the quality of life of Lake County residents by providing active and passive 

recreational opportunities, library services and promoting conservation, preservation, and 

protection of natural resources.

Goal 6: Assure that new residential and commercial development is well-planned, attractive, 

and high-quality.

Goal 7: Facilitate and coordinate the delivery of services to those in need.

Eligible Use Categories

To ensure Fiscal Recovery Funds are utilized for their intended purpose, the U.S. Congress 

established eligible use categories and the U.S. Treasury has and will continue to provide 

further administrative rules. The visualization below couples the eligible use categories of the 

Fiscal Recovery Funds with the Lake County Board of County Commissioners goals. As 

evidenced, multiple goals fall within each of the eligible use categories accompanied by a brief 

explanation.

Public Health

•Goal 1

•Goal 4

Economic 

Impacts

•Goal 2

•Goal 7

Impacted

Communities

•Goal 3

•Goal 5

•Goal 7

Premium Pay

•Goal 1

•Goal 4

Revenue 

Replacement

•Goal 1

•Goal 2

•Goal 3

•Goal 4

•Goal 5

•Goal 6

•Goal 7
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Public Health

The County seeks to address the continuing public health emergency through measures to 

counter the spread of COVID-19 in public facilities, expand communication efforts, address the 

impacts on public health-related expenses, and provide essential mental health services.

Negative Economic Impacts

The County seeks address the negative economic impacts of the continuing public health 

emergency on individuals, private businesses, and other public safety needs. To do so, the 

County is exploring job training programs and small business financial assistance. 

Services to Disproportionately Impacted Communities

The County seeks to provide services to disproportionately impacted communities primarily 

through other programs funded by the American Rescue Plan (addressed later in this section) 

and through affordable housing projects. In addition, the County may use funds in the category 

to improve the health of residents in these communities through investments in Parks and 

Trails. 

Premium Pay

The County seeks to provide premium pay to first responders performing essential work during 

the COVID-19 public health emergency. This includes those who are on the frontlines and 

critical to protecting the health and wellbeing of the community at large including firefighters and 

emergency medical services personnel.

Infrastructure

The County seeks to make critical investments in infrastructure. This may include replacement

or upgrades to residential septic systems, stormwater systems, and providing access to highquality broadband service, especially to those in unserved and underserved areas of the 

jurisdiction. 

Revenue Replacement

Much like households and businesses, state and local governments have also faced financial 

impacts and revenue loss from the pandemic. As a result, local governments around the nation 

were forced to reduce services, reappropriate funds, and reduce staffing levels. To address this 

negative impact, the CSLFRF provides a provision for local governments to replace lost revenue 

to help pay for daily operational needs and capital improvements for the community. Decisions 

on the use of these ‘replacement funds’ is ongoing, yet these funds will allow the County to 

continue its critical mission towards each of the seven goals.
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Additional Funding & Programs

In addition to the Fiscal Recovery Funds, Lake County has received other federal funding under 

the American Rescue Plan (ARP). This includes the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) 

Program funds through the U.S. Department of Treasury, and both HOME funds and 

Emergency Housing Voucher Administration Fees through the U.S. Department of Housing and 

Urban Development (HUD).

The County is currently administering the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA1) with 

funding received in early 2021, provided under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. 

The total amount received was $11,085,381 and the program is actively awarding eligible 

applicants, herein providing financial relief to both renters and landlords, while simultaneously 

preventing hundreds of evictions.

More recently, the County was awarded additional funding as part of the American Rescue Plan 

to implement a second phase of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERA2. The 

initial tranche of funds received this summer is close to $3.5 million with the potential for 

additional funds based on need and eligibility. While the programs are structured very similarly, 

ERA2 expands eligibility and services slightly for residents to help prevent evictions and 

homelessness.

Also, Lake County received HOME funding this fiscal year for the first time in our history. The 

allocation is in the amount of $568,429. Further, the American Rescue Plan included additional 

appropriations to the HOME program, to which Lake County received an extra $2,060,197 to 

increase homeownership and affordable housing opportunities to low and very low-income 

residents. 

Lastly, Emergency Housing Voucher Administration Fees totaling $143,500 were also received 

as part of the larger American Rescue Plan package. Combined, these housing programs and 

funds are a significant boost to help those residents most at risk of facing eviction, hardships 

due to the pandemic, and helping to improve their living conditions. Currently, staff is awaiting 

further guidance from the awarding federal agencies and are in the early planning phases for 

these programs.

Promoting equitable outcomes 

Within the previously covered eligible use categories section are some projects or programs that 

could help to promote equitable economic recovery from the pandemic. While no specific 

projects have begun at the time of this publication, certain projects do have the potential to 

make a transformative impact in underprivileged and disadvantaged communities across the 

county.
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Some examples of projects that are eligible for funding and could help historically underserved, 

marginalized, and adversely affected groups would include Job Training Assistance, Affordable

Housing, and Broadband. In addition, these projects would be targeted to Qualified Census 

Tracts (QCTs) (areas that have 50% of households with incomes below 60% of the Area 

Median Gross Income or which have a poverty rate of 25% or greater), as much as possible. As 

of 2021, Lake County has five (5) designated QCT’s in the county. Maps of these locations can 

be found in the Appendix of this report.

Community Engagement 

Leadership and staff have sought a wide range of community input and will continue to 

engage a diverse group of stakeholders, including those who can reach traditionally 

underserved groups in the community. Stakeholders in this sense are those individuals who 

may be directly affected using the funds. Due to the comprehensive nature of the Fiscal 

Recovery Funds, staff understands that all residents and enterprises within the County are 

stakeholders and will in some fashion be affected by the decisions in using the recovery 

plan funds. Below is a table identifying the stakeholder(s) accompanied by a brief 

description. 

Stakeholder Description

Residents/Constituents All persons within the jurisdiction

Constitutional Officers Duly elected officials which are officers of the county under 

the Florida State Constitution

School Board County public schools district

Municipalities Fourteen (14) cities and towns

Non-Profits Community service and charitable organizations

Businesses Individual business owners

Chamber of Commerce 

and Business Groups

Private business-oriented membership groups

Post-Secondary 

Education Institution(s)

Local technical and workforce training institution(s)

Further, many stakeholders have been and/or will be informed and engaged through several 

formal and informal channels of communication and forums. These methods may be 

revisited in the future as needed. The table below identifies the types and methods/venues

of communication for the recovery plan.

Type Method/Venue

Formal Board of County Commissioners Agenda Notices

Formal Board of County Commissioners Meetings - Public Input 

and/or Public Hearing

Formal Official County website

Formal Official social media announcements

Informal Communication with business groups and community social 

service organizations

Informal Word of mouth
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Labor Practices 

This section describes the workforce practices and labor standards in place or instituted by the 

county to promote effective and efficient delivery of high-quality infrastructure projects. These 

practices and standards were in place prior to receipt of the Fiscal Recovery Funds and will 

continue to be utilized as part of this plan.

Davis-Bacon and related Acts (DBRA)

As legally required for all federally funded projects, which will include any applicable 

infrastructure projects constructed using these Fiscal Recovery Funds, the County applies the 

Davis-Bacon and related Acts (DBRA) to all contracts and their subcontractors. This helps to 

ensure laborers and mechanics performing work on the site of projects using these funds are 

entitled to receive prevailing wage rates for their labor.

Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE)

In general, Lake County encourages Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms to 

compete for professional services projects and encourages non-DBE consultants to use DBE 

firms as sub-consultants. However, use of DBE subconsultants is not mandatory and no 

preference points are given in the competitive bidding selection process for DBE participation. 

E-Verify

Vendors are required to utilize the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system to 

verify the employment eligibility of all new employees hired by a vendor during the term of the 

contract. Likewise, vendors must also require any contractor and subcontractors performing 

work or providing services under the contract to likewise utilize E-Verify to verity the 

employment eligibility of all new employees hired by the subcontractor during the contract term.

Local Vendor Preference 

Lake County imposes a reciprocal match local vendor preference practice to ensure an equal 

procurement environment for all potential vendors. Under the reciprocal match local vendor 

preference practice, if the lowest price under a bid is received from a vendor that is classified as 

a local vendor by a county that maintains a local vendor preference program that discriminates 

against a Lake County vendor as defined below, then that county’s preference percentage 

threshold is applied to the lowest priced Lake County local vendor. If such application causes 

the Lake County vendor to be eligible for award, the Lake County vendor may secure the award 

by matching the out-of-county vendor’s original pricing. 

Use of Evidence 

Evidence-based interventions and program evaluations can be valuable components of any 

public program or service. These tools can provide a governmental unit or agency with the 

ability to apply scientifically tested and proven methods of service delivery or allow for the 

rigorous evaluation and measurement of intended program outcomes. 
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As the Fiscal Recovery Funds encourages the use of evidence and metrics to gauge the 

outcomes of program interventions, staff continues to evaluate the best potential use of funds 

and the associated Use of Evidence requirements. However, an initial approach that the County 

will be taking is requiring any subrecipients or contractors to describe the goals of the project 

and the evidence base for any evidence-based interventions with awarded project(s). Specified 

by Treasury guidance, these will include certain projects addressing needs within the ‘Public 

Health’, ‘Negative Economic Impacts’, and ‘Services to Disproportionately Impacted 

Communities’ expenditure categories. 

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category

The County has no expenses as of July 31, 2021, to report in this initial, annual Recovery Plan 

Performance Report. However, all expenses will be provided in subsequent reports and will 

provide more level of detail.

Category Cumulative

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

1 Expenditure Category: Public Health $0 N/A

2 Expenditure Category: Negative Economic 

Impacts

$0 N/A

3 Expenditure Category: Services to 

Disproportionately Impacted Communities

$0 N/A

4 Expenditure Category: Premium Pay $0 N/A

5 Expenditure Category: Infrastructure $0 N/A

6 Expenditure Category: Revenue Replacement $0 N/A

7 Administrative and Other $0 N/A

Project Inventory 

As noted under the preceding Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category section, there are no 

projects that have been specifically selected and developed during the reporting period. 

However, all projects that are undertaken will be described under this section of subsequent 

reports.
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Appendix

Qualified Census Tract, 301.02
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Qualified Census Tracts 302.06 & 302.09

Qualified Census Tracts 305.03 & 306.02