Nearly $3 million in relief funding is coming to Brown County courtesy of the recently approved American Rescue Plan, as the country begins to slowly return to a new normal post-COVID-19.
Part of the massive $1.9 trillion relief package Congress passed last month allocated $350 billion to states and local governments to assist with pandemic-related revenue shortfalls.
Local governments will receive much larger amounts of relief money than they did when the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed last year.
Brown County will receive $2.9 million in pandemic relief funding. That is almost six times more than the $494,248 the county received in CARES Act funding.
The town of Nashville will receive $230,000. The town received a CARES Act allotment of $36,012 last year.
What exactly the money can be spent on remains unclear, as well as the exact parameters for spending.
Per the bill, local governments can use the money for a number of expenses, including revenue shortfalls; responding to negative impacts on housing, nonprofits and small businesses due to the pandemic; paying salaries of essential workers; or paying for necessary investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.
Though the bill outlines some parameters for how local governments can spend relief money, there is still a gray area, particularly with regard to using money for infrastructure improvements.
At the April 8 Brown County Commissioners meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved an agreement with Baker Tilly, the county’s financial adviser, to give them guidance on what can and cannot be done with this next round of funding.
This funding will have a long-term impact on the county’s finances, commissioner Diana Biddle said.
“We want to be very prudent in what we do with it. We don’t want to spend it on stuff just because it’s there. They are going to give us some opinions and some advice on that,” she said.
Baker Tilly will assist the commissioners in looking at revenue shortfalls in certain funds last year and see if any of those funds can be reimbursed by this funding within the parameters that have been set.
In 2018, the Brown County Council voted to take out a $2 million loan to fund a variety of projects. At the April 8 meeting, Biddle said it was getting time to renew that loan and Baker Tilly would help with determining if that is necessary given this round of relief funding.
“I don’t really want to borrow money when we don’t need to borrow money. But this American Rescue Plan is not an open checkbook. There are a lot of restrictions and requirements to it,” Biddle said.
“They are also giving us some scenarios, I guess, as to how best to go about that capital improvement loan. We have a few things that we want to look at in the future.”
The commissioners also approved an agreement with Baker Tilly to update the county’s comprehensive financial plan. Their rate ranges between $200 to $350 an hour. It was estimated the price for these engagements will be around $30,000. The commissioners budget $70,000 for consulting annually.
“The American Rescue Plan is more than 600 pages of legislation, so we will have to digest all the options,” she said. “Many discussions” will take place to “build a consensus and a plan with how to best use these funds,” she added.
One possible use for some of the funding is to pay for the match required for the Helmsburg stormwater project. The Brown County Council was scheduled to have a special meeting to discuss that possibility on Monday, April 12.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts has advised that counties cannot spend any money until the county commissioners approve an ordinance that includes a plan on how exactly it will be spent. Biddle said the commissioners would work the county council on that plan.
As of late last week, Biddle said counties and towns were still awaiting guidance from the United States Department of Treasury. Like with CARES Act funding, the rules for how this money can be spent could also change.
The Nashville Town Council hadn’t made any decisions on how to use its money either as of late last week. The topic was to be on the agenda of the next council meeting on Thursday, April 15.
