City of Dunkirk employees who have been on the front lines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic could be in line for a one-time payment, courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act.

Don Williams Jr., outgoing First Ward councilman, said $300,000 of the federal funds would be split evenly between those who worked from March 2020 — when the pandemic began — to August 2021. He said retirees and new hires would not be eligible.

Based on Williams’ figures and the number of city employees, which totaled around 155 in 2020, the pay per employee could be in the range of $1,500 to more than $2,000.

According to the National Association of Counties, there are five primary ways Recovery Funds can be spent. They include:

̄ Support public health response — fund COVID-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral health-care and certain public health and safety staff.

̄ Address negative economic impacts — respond to economic harms to workers, families, small businesses, and nonprofits, or impacted industries and re-hiring of public sector workers.

̄ Replace public sector revenue loss — use funds to provide government services to extend of the reduction in revenue experienced due to the pandemic.

̄ Premium pay for essential workers — offer additional support to those who have and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical infrastructure. Funds can be used retroactively back to Jan. 27, 2020.

̄ Water, sewer and broadband infrastructure — make necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, invest in wastewater and stormwater infrastructure and provide unserved or underserved locations with new or expanded broadband access.

Council is apparently putting together the resolution for the hazard pay for the next meeting, which will be Tuesday. According to seethroughny.net, the city’s 155 workers earned a total of $9.3 million in 2020.