First Published by: iNewsSource<\/p>\n
First written by: Cody Dulaney<\/p>\n
San Diego County officials gave an $83 million pay raise to a contractor that has been under scrutiny for its mismanagement of a COVID-19 quarantine hotel program.<\/p>\n
The increase came without any change to the contract\u2019s scope of work and at the same time\u00a0researchers from San Diego State University were\u00a0evaluating what went wrong\u00a0with the sheltering program.<\/p>\n
That means the total cost of the troubled program is $140.6 million, more than quadruple the $30 million\u00a0inewsource<\/em>\u00a0previously reported.\u00a0inewsource<\/em>\u00a0discovered the increased amounts after delving into the range of contracts the county has with\u00a0Equus Workforce Solutions.<\/p>\n County spokesperson Michael Workman, who was asked in emails over the last week about the additional money given to Equus, did not give a detailed explanation. In an email sent late afternoon Friday, he would only say that the increase was intended to \u201cadd hotels and other resources to expand capacity to meet the increased number of individuals served.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs local COVID-19 case rates have surged and gone down, this has required us to amend the contract to ensure there is funding available to expand as quickly as possible,\u201d Workman said in a statement. \u201cWhile the overall contract cost has increased significantly due to the need to extend the services and expand capacity related to both available rooms and staffing, the pricing for services has not increased.\u201d<\/p>\n