As severe spread of COVID-19 continues across Indiana, Bartholomew County residents should expect the local fight against the coronavirus to continue indefinitely, Auditor Pia O’Connor said during a presentation about the county’s COVID-19 response so far.
O’Connor gave a more detailed accounting of the county’s response to the pandemic at Tuesday’s Bartholomew County Council meeting.
When the amount of money obtained through local grant writers are combined with funding from the 2020 Coronavirus Aid and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, Bartholomew County has received a total of $11,542,278 to date, O’Connor said. Of those funds, 43% has been spent over the last two years, she said.
That percentage is in comparison to a report last month that showed only 11% of all ARP funds received last year or expected this year have been spent. The entire ARP allocation to the county will be $16.2 million, with $8.1 million received late spring and an equal amount due this May.
Breaking down the latest figures further, O’Connor said the county has received $736,236 in grants obtained outside of the federal ARP and CARES programs for test sites, vaccination clinics and other purposes.
About 57% of funds obtained by local grant writers has been spent to date, according to the auditor’s office.
Originally, the CARES funds had a number of strings tied to it, such as how much should be spent on personal protection equipment, laptop computers and other specific items. The county was instructed to pay for what they need upfront and seek reimbursement in federal dollars administered by a state agency, O’Connor said.
However, those restrictions lightened up considerably when a federal policy change meant Bartholomew County could also use CARES funds for specific types of salaries. The county decided to earmark some of that money specifically to pay jail employees, O’Connor said. It was a federal policy change that may allow the county council to place an additional $1.1 million into the county’s General Fund, she added.
In total, Bartholomew County government spent all of the $2,703,043 it received in CARES funds on 30 different line items. Meanwhile, there are 25 different line items showing where this year’s ARP funds are currently invested, O’Connor said.
An unexpected windfall came when the federal government removed a significant restriction on 2021 ARP funds. They allowed the county to claim a flat $10 million on county government revenue losses, which O’Connor said were calculated by her office at $1,190,773. Receiving such a sizable amount of federal money ($8.8 million) with few strings attached is “unprecedented,” the auditor said.
So the question becomes what to do about the excess funds. Under the law, an amount of money that is as high as 15% of the 2021 approved budget of $28.2 million can be placed into the existing Rainy Day Fund, O’Connor said. In other words, the county could add an additional $4.2 million into the existing $6 million reserve fund, bringing the total up to $10.2 million, the auditor said. No decision regarding the excess funds was made Tuesday.
While it may appear the county is flush with cash, O’Connor warned that Bartholomew County is far from being out of the woods in terms of COVID-19.
“Our public health response isn’t over,” O’Connor said while emphasizing the virus and its variants are not likely to leave due in part to Hoosiers who neglect to take precautions such as wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing or getting full vaccinated.
In addition, nobody can be certain that another strain of the coronavirus like the delta and omicron might emerge in recent months, O’Connor warned.
“We could have another COVID crisis, and we might not get a bunch of money the next time from the federal government,” O’Connor said. “We might have to pay for the vaccine ourselves.”
The auditor also emphasized there’s no need to rush to invest all the money because the county has until the end of 2026 to spend the ARP funds.
Other commitments for the 2021 ARP funds include $1.3 million for a new heating, cooling and ventilation system at the county jail; $500,000 to install a new sewer system at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds; and $472,500 for several nonprofit organizations to help make up for their lost revenue.
Another reminder brought up by O’Connor is that the county is investing $4 million into countywide high-speed broadband, which represents 25% of all ARP funds that have or will be received.
After council member Jorge Morales suggested using some Rainy Day funds to pay off the existing bond on the Bartholomew County Jail, O’Connor said that would force the county to pay a pre-payment penalty that won’t expired until July, 2023. The interest on the jail bond, which the auditor estimates will shrink down to about $6 million during the second half of next year, is only at about 2%. It would be better to wait a year-and-a-half to pay off the jail bond, rather that pay principal, interest and penalty all at once, the auditor said.
After the meeting, O’Connor said she felt it was important for the community, including elected officials, to take a comprehensive look at the funds spent on COVID relief over the last two years.
“We’ve been so busy with our head down doing the work that we haven’t had the chance to look at what we’ve done,” she said.
