BURNHAM, Ill. (CBS) — By now, you’ve heard the term CARES Act – the federal COVID-19 relief bill passed by Congress almost a year ago.
Cook County received a sizeable chunk of change and has doled out nearly $50 million to suburban governments in recent months. But residents in one town say they’re not getting a straight answer about how the village spent its CARES cash.
So they called the CBS 2 Morning Insiders.
As CBS 2’s Lauren Victory reported, you will find wind chimes ringing peacefully in south suburban Burnham. But not everything ringing there is so calm.
“We feel that we are being discriminated against,” said Carol Dills, who explained that her alarm bells went off when a COVID-19 credit for water bills was announced by village officials.
The money came from the CARES Act – short for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security.
“One hundred seventy-five dollars was given only to people who got a meter,” said Dills.
The problem is the trailers at Riverpointe Mobile Home Community don’t have meters, so Dills’ neighbors miss out on the relief.
“To me, it’s not fair,” Dills said. “We pay a water bill like anybody else.”
John Hajduch is one of lucky ones with a water meter. He shared his bill with CBS 2, and it shows a yellow COVID-relief stamp. He’s appreciative of the $175, but suspicious of the math.
Records show Burnham received almost $625,000 in CARES funding.
“We have 1,152 active meters. Multiply that by $175 credit,” said Hajduch, a Burnham resident for 58 years. “That’s about 201 grand.”
CBS 2 confirmed those numbers through an open records request asking for the number of active water meters.
It leaves us with the same question as Hajduch – where’s the other 400-something thousand dollars?
Source: chicago.cbslocal.com