County seeks federal help for labor costs
The coronavirus pandemic has added to the day-to-day duties of the county’s public safety personnel, often taking time away from tasks outlined in their job descriptions.
Jailers at the Garland County Detention Center are keeping inmates socially distanced, and sheriff’s deputies guarding the Garland County Court House, Government Office and Courts buildings are screening people and enforcing the county court’s executive order requiring face coverings for everyone entering county-maintained buildings.
Dispatchers at the 911 communica
tions center are asking callers for additional information to protect first responders from potential exposure to the virus, and patrol deputies are taking extra precautions when responding to calls for service.
“Everybody’s job has changed dramatically during the pandemic,” County Judge Darryl Mahoney said Monday. “We’ve lost a lot of man-hours because people are having to go through a lot of extra steps. There’s a lot of things that have changed as far as job description for all of our people.
“They’re spending time trying to go through the process of masking and determining if somebody has a fever. All the things that have to be done every time you come in contact with someone.”
Reimbursement for the additional labor is the first batch of funding the county will seek from the $150 million set aside for cities and counties from the state’s $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus relief. A resolution brought before the Garland County Quorum Court Monday night would authorize Mahoney to apply for up to $2,354,678 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding.
Justices of the peace had yet to vote on the resolution at presstime Monday. The quorum court’s Finance Committee gave it a do-pass recommendation last week.
Based on the formula used to distribute state turnback money, the county is eligible for up to $2.35 million from the $150 million set aside. The city of Hot Springs is eligible for up to $1.5 million, a cap based on population. Oct. 30 and Nov. 16 are the deadlines for local governments to apply for the funding.
New guidance issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury eased the burden local governments have in substantiating their additional labor costs.
“It basically says if you say that’s what they were doing, and that’s inside the public health and safety arena, the presumption is they were doing that, and we’re going to allow those expenses,” Deputy Director of the Department of Finance and Administration and State Comptroller Paul Louthian told the CARES Act Steering Committee last month. “You simply have to back it up with duty rosters, payroll records showing that person was paid for how much. That will be the extent of the documentation that’s necessary.
“My opinion is they’ve opened this up to say if you have public health and safety employees, and you’re paying them during this time period to work with the public, we’re going to pay you for this expense.”
The list of preapproved funding requests the steering committee advanced last month included labor costs for public safety and health personnel. Those requests will be reviewed and approved by DFA or CTEH, the consulting firm awarded the more than $3 million contract to develop and staff the application process and help the state prepare for a federal compliance review of the city and county relief funding, and won’t require steering committee approval.
The preapproved list also included rent/mortgage/utility relief for people whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic. According to the list, people can self-certify that they meet eligibility criteria, and that they are not receiving housing assistance from another agency. Payments would be made directly to landlords, mortgage companies or utilities on the applicant’s behalf.
Funding for food banks and feeding programs is also on the list of preapproved items. Mahoney said the county would need to partner with an area nonprofit to administer housing, utility and food aid to people whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic.
The Community Service Office, which the county has a $10,354 contract for services with, could be a good fit, he said.
“We already have a contract for services with CSO,” Mahoney said. “So we’ll probably try to reach out to them and see if they want to work with us on some of this stuff, because we obviously don’t have the resources to do it ourselves.”
According to Treasury Department guidance, city and county CARES Act funding is limited to covering pandemic-related expenses incurred between March 1 and Dec. 30 that were not accounted for in 2020 budgets. Funds not spent by Dec. 30 from the state’s $1.25 billion allocation will be returned to the federal government.
Revenue local governments have lost because of the pandemic is not eligible for CARES Act funding.