Boone County Commission defends approach to giving out CARES Act funding
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The three members of the Boone County Commission signed a letter Friday defending the county's holding of most of the $21 million in CARES Act funding it received in the spring.
The county was awarded $21 million in funding in May. It's up to the county commission to determine how to award that money to local public organizations such as schools and city governments struggling to make ends meet amid lagging revenue and an economic downtown brought on by COVID-19.
The county has thus far been slow to give out funding, only giving the Columbia/Boone County health department about $1.8 million for contact tracing work and more than $300,000 for local school districts to buy mobile hot spots to increase internet access for students.
Columbia Mayor Brian Treece was critical of the county's pace Thursday during a city budget session. City leaders have asked for $14 million to $15 million in funding from the COVID-19 stimulus.
Treece said the city is grateful for the health department money but that it needs more funding immediately thanks to an uncertain budget picture. The city's next fiscal year begins Oct. 1, and city officials are hammering out a budget now.
The commission's letter was sent to news organizations Friday. In it, the commission places the blame for the slow pace of funding on a lack of guidance from the federal and state governments.
"Given the massive amount of dollars involved, we initially expected that the guidance provided by the federal government and then the state government would be substantial," commissioners wrote. "However, during every conference/Zoom/virtual meeting/call with federal and state officials, we were told that the only certainty about the CARES Act was that, in 2021, auditors would be coming to local jurisdictions to ensure that funding decisions had been made appropriately, in accordance with the CARES Act."
The contact tracing money and cash for the hot spots were easy decisions because they're clearly directly related to the pandemic, the commission wrote.
However, the commission said it did not want to risk giving out the rest of the money without a proper review and possibly putting Boone County taxpayers on the hook for repaying the federal government.
The commission said it plans to have an online portal for funding requests up by the end of the month.
The county is already reviewing time-sensitive funding requests, according to the letter.
"We recognize that every part of Boone County has been impacted by COVID-19 and we understand the magnitude of our obligation to ensure that the CARES Act funding is distributed equitably and appropriately throughout the county," the letter reads.
