State senator calls on Boone County Commission to quicken stimulus spending

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Missouri state senator is calling on the Boone County Commission to work faster to spend federal stimulus dollars.

State Sen. Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) said the commission needed to get money from the CARES Act into the hands of people and organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The county received $21.3 million from the state in May as part of the federal stimulus package meant for local governments. State leaders decided to put the spending power in the hands of county commissions.

So far, the Boone County Commission has only spent that money on more contact tracers for the Columbia/Boone County Health Department and mobile hot spots to help school districts with Internet access. Commissioners are working on an online portal for people and organizations to request CARES Act funding for COVID-19 costs they've taken on.

Rowden said that needed to speed up.

"Over three months after receiving CARES Act relief funds from the State, the county has still not made those dollars available to help struggling Mid-Missourians," Rowden said. "After numerous conversations with local leaders, community members, and county officials, I’m calling on the Boone County Commission to adapt and expedite the distribution of the millions of dollars in CARES Act relief funds sent to them by the State of Missouri."

Northern District commissioner Janet Thompson defended the county's process. She said the portal should be available for use at the start of next week.

"Had Senator Rowden contacted the Commission, he would have found out that payments of over [$2 million] have already been made to the Health Department for contact tracing and more testing and to the Boone County schools for hot spots (1345 of them)," Thompson said. "Further, we have received requests and are working through those requests now, from Boone Hospital and MU Hospital, which requests, if fully funded, will take a substantial portion of the available funds."

Thompson said the county has also spoken to Columbia City Manager John Glascock about the city's $4.2 million in COVID-19 expenses it's saddled since March.

Thompson told ABC 17 News in July that the commission wanted to make sure the county kept a good records of who received CARES Act funding and for what reasons. The portal, she said, would help ensure applicants gave the same types of information for when the U.S. Treasury Department begins auditing how the money is spent.