The exterior of Bartholomew County Courthouse in Columbus, Ind., pictured, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. Mike Wolanin | The Republic
COLUMBUS, Ind. About $1 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds will be invested to provide matching funds for a program to repave 27 miles of county roads.
The development was announced Monday while the Bartholomew County commissioners ratified their $1 million Community Crossings matching grant announced last month.
A statement about the eligibility of federal American Relief Program (ARP) dollars for matching road funds states ARP funds can be used “for the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue to Columbus, Bartholomew County government, and non-entitlement units of local government, due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.”
In April, 2021, Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor told elected officials that, instead of asking for an itemized list of county government revenue losses, the federal government was simply allowing counties like Bartholomew to list a standard amount of revenue losses not to exceed $10 million.
Basically, that meant county government could spend the $10 million on whatever it felt was appropriate, O’Connor said.
That same month, the three county commissioners hired Baker Tilly, US, LLP – a Chicago-based public accounting and consulting firm – to inspect each expenditure received through ARP over a two-year period, ensuring that the county was following all rules and regulations established for spending the money.
In total, Bartholomew County government received a total of $16.2 million through ARP from early last year through this month.
For the complete story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
