The Brown County Council approved moving more than $50,000 in CARES Act funding on Dec. 28 to help cover payroll costs related to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county received $494,248 in payroll relief funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The county requested a lump sum for public safety salaries, and then the money was moved to the general fund so the council can dole it out to cover COVID expenses. The procedure for doing that was approved at the Dec. 14 council meeting.
The auditor’s office was responsible for assembling the summary of complete payroll expenses related to COVID-19 response from March to December 2020. That data was submitted the county’s attorney, Barnes and Thornburg, which then made the final application for the federal money for Brown County, council President Dave Redding explained in an email last week.
Redding had not seen the CARES Act application as of last week which would justify why the county applied for $494,248. He said he was requesting a copy of it.
At the Dec. 28 meeting, $50,371.05 was transferred from the CARES Act funding sitting in the county’s general fund. That was to cover payroll costs related to COVID-19 response for the health department, emergency management, the circuit court, county commissioners, probation department, the auditor’s office, IT and 911 dispatch.
“These are funds that have already been paid out and we’re needing to replenish where they are needed,” Auditor Julie Reeves said.
Transferring $239,000 to the Brown County Music Center was also on the list of transfers, but Redding said he was not sure the council needed to move that money due to questions he had received about the memorandums of understanding the music center had entered into.
The memorandum of understanding between the county and the music center was for the county to use the BCMC as the location for all jury trials and other functions, like county board meetings, because the county “lacks other office space large enough to allow adequate social distancing,” the document states. The 2,000-seat auditorium allowed some of those events to go on in person instead of over the phone or on Zoom.
The music center also has an MOU with the commissioners and the Brown County Health Department for the building to be used as a COVID-19 testing site, as temporary office space for the health department’s nurses, and for any health department trainings and health board meetings. Compensation for this MOU was set at $20,000 and is to come from grant funding, not from the CARES Act.
Redding said anyone with questions about the MOU should reach out to those involved directly, like the circuit court, commissioners and health department.
“Get your questions and comments addressed in their upcoming public forum in the next couple of weeks, then we can come back to this on Jan. 19 for any kind of requested actions of the council,” he said.
No county council members objected to taking more time to look over the MOUs before approving the transfer of $239,000 to the BCMC.
The remaining $204,876.95 of CARES Act money will be spent on COVID-19-related payroll expenses.
The Town of Nashville received a separate CARES Act allotment of $36,012. It is not included in the $494,248 the county received, said Nashville Clerk-Treasurer Brenda Young.
CARES Act money is to be used for payroll expenses for public safety and public health employees.
It can also be used to cover hazard pay related to COVID-19 response; unemployment compensation claims; paid sick and paid family and medical leave to public employees; remarketing of convention centers and the tourism industry, like expenses related to publicizing resuming activities and steps taken to ensure a safe experience; interest on tax anticipation notes or administrative costs related to them; and some administrative expenses related to COVID-19 response, like consulting services, according to a Frequently Asked Questions document from the Indiana Finance authority. CARES Act money comes through the IFA.
The IFA will reimburse expenditures related to the public health emergency if they were not accounted for in budgets approved as of March 27, 2020, if those expenses were incurred between March 1 and Dec. 30, 2020.
To be considered an “incurred” cost during 2020, “the performance or delivery must occur during the covered period but payment of funds need not be made during that time,” the FAQ document states, “though it is generally expected that this (payment) will take place within 90 days of a cost being incurred.”
CARES Act funding cannot be used to reimburse subsidy payments made for housing, utility and food assistance for those impacted by COVID-19.
Expanding rural broadband access to help at-home learning and work could be reimbursed with CARES Act funding if the expansion is “necessary for the public health emergency,” IFA states.
Grants to small businesses also could have been reimbursed.
Requests for reimbursements for incurred expenses to be covered by CARES Act funding were due to the IFA on Dec. 15.
