County of Orange, NY

Recovery Plan 

State and Local Fiscal Recovery 

Funds

2021 Report
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 1

County of Orange, NY

2021 Recovery Plan

Table of Contents

General Overview......................................................................................................................2

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................2

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

Promoting Equitable Outcomes ...............................................................................................5

Community Engagement .........................................................................................................6

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category........................................................................6-7
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 2

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Executive Summary 

On January 31, 2020 the Trump administration declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a public 

health emergency in the United States, setting quarantines of Americans who had recently been 

to certain parts of China. CDC officials said it was the first quarantine order issued by the 

federal government in over 50 years. On March 13, 2020 President Trump declared the 

coronavirus pandemic to be a national emergency. Soon after, guidelines were issued warning 

Americans to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people and to limit discretionary travel. 

This also marked the beginning of the economic downturn as businesses closed and

unemployment claims soared as many Americans lost their jobs. The U.S. economy shrank 

4.8% in the first quarter of 2020 – its first drop in output since early 2014 and the steepest since 

late 2008.

The first case of COVID-19 in the state of New York during the pandemic was confirmed on 

March 1, 2020 and the state quickly became an epicenter of the pandemic. By April 10, New 

York had more confirmed cases than any country outside the US. The first positive case of 

COVID-19 was confirmed in the County of Orange on March 10, 2020. As of August 16, 2021 

Orange County has had 49,773 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and 870 known deaths 

due to COVID-19. 

Government response to the pandemic in New York began with a full lockdown from March 

2020 to April 2020, followed by a four-phase reopening plan by region from April 2020 to July 

2020. At the start of the pandemic, the focus for the County of Orange was on procuring scarce 

items such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators for its’ local partners 

including hospitals, clinics, FQHC’s, first responders, non-profit organizations, homeless 

shelters, nursing homes and local school districts to prevent and address the spread of COVID19. As the pandemic progressed, the County’s public health and emergency services were 

consumed with facilitating testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine orders, public 

communications, issuance and enforcement of health orders, and the development and 

execution of a comprehensive vaccination program.

In responding to the public health emergency and its negative economic impacts, the County of 

Orange has seen substantial increases in costs to provide critical government services amid 

substantial declines in revenue due to the economic downturn and closure of many businesses. 

As a result of the substantial deficits in major revenues and the unforeseen substantial 

increased cost to deliver government services directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 

County of Orange has developed a strategic plan to utilize the funding from the American 

Rescue Plan in the following ways:

1. Support urgent COVID-19 response efforts to continue to decrease spread of the virus 

and bring the pandemic under control.

2. Replace lost revenue for the County of Orange to strengthen support for vital public 

services and help retain jobs.
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 3

Uses of Funds

The County of Orange intends to use the funds as described above to:

• Support public health expenditures (EC 1), by, for example, funding COVID-19 

mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, and certain public 

health, nursing home and public safety staff salaries and benefit costs.

• Replace lost public sector revenue (EC 6), using this funding to provide 

government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue experienced due 

to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The County of Orange intends to utilize funds from the American Rescue Plan toward the 

support of COVID-19 mitigation efforts including a safe, effective comprehensive vaccination 

program. The Orange County Department of Health (OCDOH) has focused some of its COVID19 fighting efforts on a relatively unique collaboration with private healthcare providers to seek 

out and isolate COVID-19 clusters in underserved and minority populations within the County.

The County’s initial priority was to ensure our frontline/clinical Local Health Department staff 

obtained their first COVID-19 vaccine prior to engaging in point-of-distribution (POD) activities. 

Since achieving that goal, our focus now is vaccine administration, taking care to protect and 

utilize all resources to quickly increase the number of vaccines that can be administered. 

Orange County initially opened a closed POD at the Orange County Emergency Services 

Center located at 22 Wells Farm Road, Goshen. This site is also considered the Counties 

primary Regional Staging Site (RSS). This POD initially served Medical Reserve Corps (MRC)

volunteers, OCDOH staff and any other support staff needed to run an independent vaccination 

operation. Once the primary staff were vaccinated, the OCDOH also vaccinated EMS personnel 

that were unable to get vaccinations at their local healthcare facility. 

Given COVID-19’s disproportionately high mortality rates among the elderly, Black and Hispanic 

communities, the OCDOH is working closely with providers in our most densely populated areas 

where individuals may have challenges. The OCDOH will be partnering with Horizon Family 

Medical Group, a local health care provider (LHP) comprised of predominantly primary and 

family care physicians, and the individuals within the underserved communities to create a 

“triangular” relationship with the goal of improving community access to preventative testing and 

treatment. In this program, the local health department (LHD) through its community 

partnerships, identified organizations, housing and charitable groups which were unable to 

obtain COVID-19 vaccinations within their communities. 

The County has been and continues to work closely with all medical providers that are receiving 

COVID-19 vaccination and monitors their supply and ability to distribute to the current prioritized 

population. Data on current vaccination supply information and number of vaccinations 

administered is provided to the Orange County Department of Health (OCDOH) daily. 

Healthcare facilities, including hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC’s) will 
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 4

communicate if they are having difficulty meeting the challenges of distribution and vaccination 

and will give the Department up to 10 days’ notice if the OCDOH is needed for distribution 

assistance. 

Mobile units are also a community resource that the LHD can deploy for “flare-ups” of COVID19 which can potentially endanger the safety of the community at large. The County of Orange 

intends to use the mobile units and deploy them to numerous “hot spot” locations within the 

underserved communities as identified by the LHD. These locations will include prioritized 

populations in the major cites of Orange County and locations such as the Newburgh Ministries 

homeless shelter in the City of Newburgh; the Middletown Salvation Army; the Middletown 

RECAP Center; low-income government subsidized senior housing in the City of Newburgh; the 

Newburgh Armory food bank; City of Middletown Soup Kitchen/Library and Village of Highland 

Falls community center parking lot. 

As part of the County’s broader approach to the Covid-19 recovery plan, approximately $24 

million in Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funding is available to help those 

residents who are facing financial hardship due to COVID-19, who are up to 12 months behind 

in back rent, as well as to pay up to three months of future rent, depending on eligibility. Tenants 

and landlords who are owed rent by individuals may apply for the program. Payments will be 

issued directly to landlords and utility companies.

Tenants may apply to receive rental and utility bill assistance if, since March 13, 2020 and due 

to COVID-19, they are behind in payments; have a member of the household who has received 

unemployment benefits or experienced a reduction in income; and meet income and other 

requirements. To be eligible, adjusted gross income for 2020 cannot exceed $54,950 for an 

individual, $62,800 for two-person households, $70,650 for three, $78,500 for four, $84,800 for 

five, $91,100 for six, $97,350 for seven and $103,650 for eight. 

Renters who meet eligibility criteria and landlords who have eligible tenants in arrears are 

encouraged to apply and funds will be distributed on a rolling basis. The application process 

opened on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. 

The County also has a 311 hotline which can help residents locate immediate housing for those 

living in unlivable or temporary conditions, and individuals fleeing domestic violence. The hotline 

also provides collaborative and professional telephone support and outreach 24-hours a day to 

anyone in Orange County in need of emotional support, crisis intervention, or connection to food 

resources. 

The County of Orange suffered a loss in revenue of $67,823,839 for the fiscal year ending 

December 31, 2020 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The County intends to 

utilize funding from the American Rescue Plan Act for the provision of government services 

including salary and benefit costs for health and safety employees, health services, operational 

expenses directly related to COVID-19, modernization of cybersecurity and the restoration of 

public sector workforce.
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 5

Promoting Equitable Outcomes 

In order to promote equitable outcomes, Orange County Department of Health staff will start 

conducting street outreach, visiting residents where they live, work, and socialize and at events 

throughout the target cities. The public health staff will work to expand and strengthen public 

health messaging regarding the importance of COVID-19 testing, following public health 

prevention measures, cooperating with contact tracing, and registering for vaccinations. These 

messages will focus on racial and ethnic minority populations who are at highest risk for health 

disparities, low health literacy and are not being engaged or reached through existing COVID-19 

public health messages. Staff will work with the Health Equity Director to conduct short 

information sessions at various times and locations to engage the target population. These 

sessions will not only focus on COVID-19 mitigation measures but also work to encourage the 

development of a primary care provider-patient relationships that are based on communication, 

understanding and trust. OCDOH will use this community engagement to work with CFH to not 

only increase health literacy pertaining to COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and public health 

prevention practices and vaccinations, but also to develop strong, comprehensive relationships 

between health care providers and patients.

In recognition of individuals who are homebound, and do not have access or the ability to attend 

one of the local vaccine clinics offered by the Orange County Department of Health, those 

individuals may now sign up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Upon signing up, homebound 

individuals will be contacted to schedule their COVID-19 vaccine appointment at their 

convenience.

To promote equitable outcomes for those most in need of the ERAP program, the County has 

identified communities within Orange County that are at or below 30% of Area Median Income 

(AMI) using data from the most recent census and the NYS Department of Labor. We will 

provide outreach to those communities by working with our partners within those communities, 

both non-profit and local government, to ensure that information about the ERAP program, as 

well as assistance with applications is provided. We will also contract with former Department of 

Social Services (DSS) and non-profit staff versed in housing assistance and utility arrears 

programs to assist with outreach. We are working with a local media company to assist us with 

informing eligible households in the target population about the ERAP, required documentation, 

and how to access the Application Portal prior to its opening; as well as how to access 

application assistance within Orange County. The Newburgh Housing Policy Outline presents 

preliminary suggestions for policy themes, goals, and actions that could potentially shape the 

City of Newburgh’s long-term strategy for meeting local housing needs.

We have used data from the NYS Department of Health to identify communities most impacted 

by COVID in Orange County. We looked at the 12-month growth in unemployment claims, as 

well as COVID-19 mortality rates and infection rates per 100,000 people by zip code. The 

greatest growth in unemployment claims has been in the Monroe area. The City of Newburgh 

and the greater Newburgh area has had the highest incidents of both infection and mortality in 

Orange County. This area has a larger percentage of persons of color. The partners that we will 

work with to ensure access to ERAP are the local government, local school district, and 

community partners based in the City of Newburgh such as Regional Economic Community 

Action Program (RECAP), RUPCO, the Newburgh Ministries, the local hospital, medical 
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 6

centers, libraries, Veterans groups, groups that work with undocumented persons, and Office for 

the Aging. We will maintain a presence at the Newburgh Empire State Poverty Reduction 

Initiative (ESPRI), which is a monthly meeting attended by agencies and advocates who serve 

the City of Newburgh. We will give monthly updates and offers of assistance at each meeting. 

Community Engagement 

Community engagement and involvement in the County of Orange is a critical factor in our 

pandemic response and recovery efforts. Feedback from constituents, community-based 

organizations and communities is encouraged and solicited through various formal and informal

platforms. Since the start of Covid-19 in March of 2020, the County Executive has provided 

updates via a weekly radio show where constituents may call and discuss any concerns and 

questions they have, or simply offer feedback or suggestions. The County also has an active 

Facebook page where the County Executive has been providing daily (or as needed) updates 

on Covid-19 via recorded video messages. Following the pre-recorded messages, many 

constituents have submitted comments, questions, or feedback related to the County’s 

response and recovery plan. The County actively monitors this page, collects the feedback 

provided from both individuals and organizations and responds as appropriate. 

Outreach to solicit feedback and provide opportunities for engagement with people with 

significant barriers to services, including people of color, people with low incomes, limited 

English proficiency populations, and other traditionally underserved groups is supplemented by 

the efforts of the Director of Health Equity and the Director of the Orange County Human Rights 

Commission.

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category

Category Cumulative

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

1 Expenditure Category: Public Health $0 $0

1.1 COVID-19 Vaccination

1.2 COVID-19 Testing

1.3 COVID-19 Contact Tracing

1.4 Prevention in Congregate Settings (Nursing 

Homes, Prisons/Jails, Dense Work Sites, 

Schools, etc.)
County of Orange 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 7

Category Cumulative

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

1.5 Personal Protective Equipment

1.6 Medical Expenses (including Alternative Care 

Facilities)

1.8 Other COVID-19 Public Health Expenses 

(including Communications, Enforcement, 

Isolation/Quarantine)

1.9 Payroll Costs for Public Health, Safety, and 

Other Public Sector Staff Responding to 

COVID-19

1.10 Mental Health Services

1.11 Substance Use Services

1.12 Other Public Health Services

6 Expenditure Category: Revenue Replacement $0 $0

6.1 Provision of Government Services

7 Administrative and Other $0 $0

7.1 Administrative Expenses