It is enough not only to help local governments respond to the health crisis over the past two years, but also — if spent wisely — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that could transform area communities.
Those COVID relief programs have also been plagued by concerns of fraud and misspending amid the rush to get aid out the door.
The Springfield News-Sun recently launched a project to inform you how billions of COVID aid is being spent. This coverage includes a series of stories examining the issue, and online tools allowing you to see how communities down to the smallest village are spending federal funds.
“By passing the American Rescue Plan, Congress provided the flexibility local governments asked for to recover from the pandemic and fund essential needs,” said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “Ohioans need to know that the funding Congress passed is being used properly, which is why we implemented strict oversight across various federal agencies.”
Out of $5 trillion spent nationwide since the pandemic began, up to $400 billion has been stolen, said U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the ranking Republican on a Senate committee that recently held a hearing on COVID relief oversight.
“The unprecedented speed and amount of spending ... has made oversight of these funds incredibly difficult,” Portman spokesperson Mollie Timmons told the newspaper. “Sen. Portman believes more work needs to be done to identify the scope of fraud, recover stolen money, and implement reforms to prevent fraud from occurring in the first place.”
The American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress last year, makes $718.7 million available to more than 200 local governments in our nine-county region. This follows more than $300 million already spent by local governments as part of the CARES Act passed in 2020.
Hundreds of millions more flowed into the region through other programs, such as expanded unemployment, the Payroll Protection Program and Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
This story digs into how CARES Act funds were spent and the process governments are using to determine how to spend ARPA funds. Future reporting will examine this spending in closer detail.
The American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, was intended to respond to the COVID pandemic. U.S. Treasury in January issued final guidance on how the money can be used, giving governments “substantial flexibility.”
Governments can replace public sector revenue lost due to the pandemic, respond to health and economic impacts of the pandemic, and invest in water, sewer and broadband, among other things.
Examples of ineligible expenses include building jails, offsetting tax cuts, paying down debt, replenishing financial reserves or paying legal settlements.
Still working on it
Local governments have until 2024 to spend ARPA funds.
Clark County will receive a total of $26 million of ARPA dollars, with the first half coming to the county in March 2021 and the second half expected in June.
Of Clark County’s allotment, the county commissioners have allocated more than $23 million of the funding to 21 projects and other items, such as employee paid administrative leave and technology for the county’s dispatch center, expected to open this year. Another $220,000 was allocated in January to assist Clark County veterans seeking aid through the county veterans office.
Up to $2.5 million in the federal relief dollars was allocated to reimburse the county for a portion of dispatch center costs, as well an additional $300,000 to cover the costs of programming and personnel expenses for reentry services for people preparing to leave incarceration in Clark County.
The commission also voted to allocate $125,000 for a part-time position for several years for the Ohio State University extension office of Clark County. The position will focus on assisting the county’s local food program and community gardens. In addition, roughly $260,000 in ARPA funding was allocated in March to reimburse the county for COVID-19 health care expenses incurred by the county self-insurance health care program.
The city of Springfield received $44.2 million in ARPA money, and Springfield Twp. received $1.23 million.
Champaign County’s government has also received $7.6 million in the federal relief.
Of the more than 750 respondents so far to Fairborn’s online survey, the highest priority is “Community health, wellness and quality of life by investing in physical and mental health.”
Governments forego money
In our area, seven small local governments in Butler, Champaign, Darke and Warren counties didn’t apply for the funds.
The largest not applying was Union Twp. in Champaign County, which passed on $215,577 in ARPA funds. This would have been a significant portion of the township’s $1.7 million annual operating budget.
Chuck Dooley, president of the Union Twp. trustees, said the program rules changed several times, and they didn’t want to risk using the money improperly and getting in trouble.
“We could spend the money, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “We’re not a huge township. It was probably in our township’s best interest not to mess with it.”
Final program rules gave governments broad discretion on how to use it, basically allowing them to consider the first $10 million a reimbursement for lost revenue and allowing them to use it for any legal government purpose. All but 11 local governments got less than $10 million.
Infrastructure common use
The Ohio Municipal League at the end of 2021 surveyed governments across Ohio about how they intend to spend ARPA funds. More than a third of respondents hadn’t decided.
Of those who had decided, the most common immediate use was infrastructure improvements such as water and wastewater systems. Another common use was supporting community programs and nonprofits.
Ohio Municipal League Director Kent Scarrett said while some governments are looking at big, transformational projects, many are planning more mundane but crucial or deferred investments in water and infrastructure.
“It really depends on the needs of that community,” he said.
Much of the funds will maintain public services otherwise threatened in many cities losing income and lodging taxes during the pandemic, and facing inflation.
“It really was a significant lifeline for communities to stabilize budgets and not lay off municipal employees,” he said.
The Clark County commission approved up to $2 million in ARPA spending for a stormwater improvement project for Enon-Xenia Road to alleviate flooding in the area, and also $2.18 million for a fiber optic project to service county-owned buildings. The commission also allocated $1 million for a safety improvement project for Spangler Road.
In November 2021, the commission also authorized $800,000 of spending toward a project to extend the waterline that runs near Park Layne, and another $500,000 was allocated to a sewer vacuum valve replacement in the Crystal Lakes and Medway area.
CARES Act
Local governments were awarded more than $300 million from the CARES Act. The money had to be spent in 2020 and 2021.
Clark County’s government received roughly $7.5 million in CARES Act funding, which came in three rounds, and the majority of money distributed that wasn’t transferred to other local governments went toward covering payroll-related items for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, totaling nearly $3.4 million.
About $200,000 of the relief was also allocated to provide residents who qualified with rental and utility assistance. This CARES Act assistance was provided primarily during October through the end of 2020. A total 68 of households in Clark County received rent, mortgage or utility assistance. Those impacted could have been laid off, had hours reduced at work or seen a general decrease in income as a result of the pandemic.
An additional $300,000 was allocated to help small businesses with less than 50 employees as well as local nonprofits.
In addition, $275,000 was allocated to provide shelter to people experiencing homelessness in Springfield.
Champaign County received roughly $4 million in CARES money, with the largest purchase being $805,302.08 for protective barriers for offices, the disinfection of county offices and buildings, touchless faucets and digital services for customers.
Townships in Clark County also received CARES Act money, which trustees moved to spend on a variety of items.
Springfield Twp. awarded $350,000 in its CARES Act money to Clark-Shawnee School District. The money was used to purchase floor scrubbers and Kaivac units, a floor mat cover system for the North Gymnasium at Shawnee High School, 410 student computers to support remote learning and 85 teacher devices to support remote instruction.
Bethel Twp. spent $232,0008.18 on vehicles and other equipment for its road and fire departments. In addition, the township spent another $104,000 on updates to township buildings and vehicles to meet CDC guidelines.
German Twp. spent $165,487.18 of its CARES money on payroll expenses for police, fire and EMS. Another $137,733.90 went to the purchase of touchless lights, doors, restroom fixtures, hand sanitizer, a drop box, thermometers and equipment to aid EMS personnel with lifting large patients, as well as to cover the deep cleaning of facilities.
Moorefield Twp. also used CARES money to cover payroll expenses, totaling $390,564 for payroll employees.
Champaign County’s Mad River Twp. awarded a $116,000 subgrant to Graham Local Schools with its CARES dollars to assist the school district in facilitating distance learning.
Villages and cities in both counties found a variety of uses for their CARES money.
Springfield received roughly $5.2 million in CARES money. Allocations went mainly towards covering payroll expenses for the city’s firefighters and police officers. Those expenses relate to hours brought on due to the pandemic, as well as overtime and quarantine leave.
New Carlisle was mostly spent on technology for remote work and materials and services to sanitize public spaces. A $44,000 medical power lift was the largest expense covered by CARES money for the city.
The Village of Enon’s largest CARES purchase was $24,000 to buy a video system and sound system for the council room at the Enon Government Center.
South Charleston received more than $100,000 in CARES Act money, with $23,196.08 going to COVID-related administrative expenses. Roughly $20,000 went to police payroll, and another $15,000 was spent on radios and other personal protective equipment related to policing, like $2,399.32 that went to riot gear.
In Champaign County, Urbana spent more than $1.2 million on payroll and benefits to fire and police personnel, and another $80,000 on public health expenses like touchless features in bathrooms, signage to encourage social distancing and remote access for government services.
Mechanicsburg spent $38,500 in CARES money for technology upgrades to allow for remote access, monitoring and controls for teleworkers, and the village of St. Paris spent $25,800 on floor coating in its municipal building in order to make disinfection more efficient.
The Dayton Daily News obtained reports of how CARES money was spent by local governments using Ohio public records law, and made detailed reports by community available on our website.
An analysis of that data found that across southwest Ohio, the most common use of CARES Act funds — totaling more than $150 million — was for employee payrolls, mostly for health and public safety staff. That money maintained government payrolls despite revenue losses, and bolstered many governments’ reserves.
After that came public health expenses, such as office renovations, disinfection and equipment. This totaled $21 million.
Small business assistance
The next largest category, totaling $13.7 million in our area, was for small business assistance. Rules for these programs varied by community.
More than 40 businesses and non-profits in Clark County were provided a total of $420,000 in grants.
Champaign County’s government awarded more than $709,000 in small business assistance and grants.
Dayton Daily News Investigates
We are asking local governments to show how they’re spending taxpayer money for pandemic relief. We are examining data and hitting the street to uncover if there’s any waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement. And we are asking readers to follow the money with us as we use Ohio public records law and federal sources to put this information on our website at DaytonDailyNews.com/investigations/billions-in-covid-aid. Your subscription makes this work possible.
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