COLUMBUS, Ind. — Until recently, a Dec. 30 deadline loomed large over local governments when it came to buying ahead for COVID-19 supplies.
Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Bartholomew County was allocated $2,684,820, according to county director of emergency management Shannan Hinton. Columbus was allocated $1,542,474.
Expenses reimbursed with CARES must be incurred in the period starting March 1, 2020 and ending on Dec. 30, 2020, federal officials said.
However, county auditor Pia O’Connor said that the deadline has changed somewhat. While the official deadline to request reimbursements through the CARES Act is Dec. 30, not all supplies have to be purchased within that time.
O’Connor said that governments are now allowed to submit public health and public safety payroll expenses for reimbursement, and guidance from the Indiana Finance Authority and the U.S. Department of Treasury indicated that the county should submit all public safety and public health payroll related expenses from March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020.
She said that in the county’s case, the funds from the payroll reimbursement will go into the general fund and can be appropriated in the future for COVID-19 expenses.
“We’re going to ask the council to reallocate that into a COVID-19 pandemic fund that we can pull from, and pay for future needs, any future PPE or anything like that that we need to ensure the safety of our responders and our county offices through this,” said Shannan Hinton, Bartholomew County’s emergency management director.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
