Mike Wolanin | The Republic People enter an Indiana State Department of Health COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinic in the Family Arts Building at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
Bartholomew County government received $16 million last spring from the federal “American Relief Plan” for COVID-19 expenses and losses. An additional $16.2 million is expected later this year.
But only 11% of the first $16 million had been spent by the end of 2021, according to figures compiled by the office of Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor.
Much of that money will be spent later this year, county officials said. Final commitments have already been made or will be firmed up shortly, county officials said. Payments from the ARP funds will be made after projects are completed.
In addition, the federal government has expanded the scope of how the federal dollars can be spent, O’Connor said. Her remarks came as she gave an overview of 2021 ARP spending and reserves as of Dec. 31.
The county set aside $1 million in the funding to obtain a new headquarters for the nursing division of the Bartholomew County Health Department on Foxpointe Drive. That new facility is now occupied, and all but $169,760 has been spent, the auditor’s report states.
The installation of information technology capabilities into the new nursing facility was budgeted at $100,000, but only $297 had been spend by the end of last year. While $300,000 has been earmarked for a health department mobile unit, no funds have yet been spent for that purpose.
Of the $600,000 set aside for additional health department staff, only $1,483 had been spent by the end of last month. But the health department just announced the hiring of two registered nurses on a contractual basis.
And, only $45,692 of the $1 million that is supposed to be spent on vaccine clinics has been used.
More money would have been spent on vaccine clinics if O’Connor’s department had not hired grant administrator Bobbie Shake, according to Bartholomew County commissioners Chairman Carl Lienhoop.
“We have paid for lots of these clinics over the last year with other specific grants,” O’Connor said.
The number of grants obtained for COVID-related items such as vaccine clinics from sources outside of the federal government has been “unbelievable,” Lienhoop said.
Both Lienhoop and commissioner Larry Kleinhenz have repeatedly said they were having a difficult time finding legal and appropriate places to put the entire $16 million in ARP funds. However, current spending plans can be amended as circumstances warrant and there’s no require that the county spend the entire amount, Lienhoop said.
One of the biggest upcoming projects for the county will be the replacement of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning at the Bartholomew County Jail. An estimated $1.25 million of the ARP funds has been set aside for that purpose, but as of the end of last year, only $25,530 had been spent. It’s now believed the project will cost more than expected, so additional ARP funds have been set aside to make up the difference.
The Information Technology Department is slated to receive $100,000, but only $4,777 of those funds had been allocated by the end of the year. And for $200,000 in revenue for maintenance work, the county has spent $76,343.
The county also earmarked $1 million to make up for revenue lost to certain non-profit organizations. Of that amount, $472,500 was dispersed by Dec. 31.
Projects that have not yet received any money from the 2021 ARP allotment, but are to receive funding this year include park improvements ($1 million), township assistance ($1.2 million), rural fire departments ($1.5 million), countywide broadband service ($4 million),and a new sewer system at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds ($500,000).
While county government revenue losses were calculated at $1,190,773, no ARP funds had been used to replace that money by the end of 2021.
Although O’Connor and her staff had prepared these figures for the Bartholomew County commissioners, the report from her office due in Washington D.C. by the end of the month won’t have to be so detailed.
Instead of asking for an itemized list of county government revenue losses, the federal government is allowing counties like Bartholomew to list a standard amount of revenue losses not to exceed $10 million.
“So rather than a report that has almost 20 line items, we’ll have a report (to the federal government) five line items,” O’Connor said
Besides the $10 million standard loss, the report being sent to Washington will also list the upcoming HVAC work at the jail, the replacement of lost revenue provided to certain nonprofit organizations, county broadband expansion efforts and the sewer project planned for the fairgrounds.
O’Connor stressed that a more detailed special report that summarizes all of the county’s response on the COVID-19 pandemic will be distributed in the near future.
