CARES Act extended with mixed local reaction
Officials in rural Ohio frustrated with the last-minute notice
After months of uncertainty and pleas for flexibility in southeast Ohio communities, Congress extended the deadline for local governments to spend their Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds from Dec. 30, 2020 through the end of 2021.
President Donald Trump signed that measure into law in the days between Christmas and New Year’s.
But local officials in rural Ohio did not breathe many sighs of relief, as they pondered what-ifs and discussed their frustration with the last-minute notice of the extension from the federal government.
“Everybody was pressed to spend that money before the end of the year,” Morgan County Commission President Adam Shriver said. “Had they extended it earlier it would’ve been an opportunity to truly spend that money in ways that would be most beneficial.”
Shriver explained that if county officials had been able to hit the pause button, rather than scramble to encumber all of their funds in late November, there would have been more consideration toward how CARES money could be used for COVID-19 inoculations.
“It would’ve been nice if we could’ve applied that
money toward the implementation of the vaccines,” he said.
The state Office of Budget and Management (OBM), which was in charge of coordinating the state’s $1.2 billion in local funding from the CARES Act among the individual townships and municipalities in Ohio’s 88 counties, advocated tirelessly on behalf of local communities to extend the deadline, OBM Director Kim Murnieks said.
“We are grateful that these dollars were extended,” she said, “because that would’ve been a detrimental outcome if we were required to send those dollars back to Washington while we’re still in the middle of the pandemic.”
Morgan County has around $146,000 remaining, Shriver said, which he’ll hold in reserve until he and his fellow commissioners can talk with the county health department about their vaccination needs.
Meanwhile, across the Muskingum River from Mcconnelsville in the village of Malta, Greg Hill wasn’t surprised by the federal government’s buzzer-beater decision to extend the deadline.
“Of course they extended it,” he said. “And of course they waited until the last minute.”
Hill, the self-described “hands-on” mayor of Malta, chose to receive the village’s funding directly, and encumbered the money before the original Dec. 30
deadline, ensuring that the village wouldn’t send a dime of their $106,329.81 in CARES Act money back to Washington.
In addition to purchasing a new temperature scanner and masks, updating their heating/cooling systems with UV lighting, upgrading to touchless plumbing in the town hall and buying 11 new laptops for city employees, Malta allocated the village’s remaining dollars to Washington-morgan Community Action and the Morgan County United Ministries.
The ministries runs a food bank in Malta that both organizations contrib
uted to with CARES funds and helps people with rent and mortgage payments
Murnieks, a Washington County native, said she understands southeastern Ohio communities face challenges that are unique. And while she can’t speculate on what future federal appropriations might look like, Murnieks said she’s dedicated to ensuring a continued partnership between state and local governments.
“My team works to answer questions, we strive to be responsive, we take the ‘We’re in this together,’ very seriously and I’ve been really happy with our relationships with our local partners,” she said.
Still, southeast Ohio advocates like Buckeye Hills Regional Council say the community’s needs are not abating, despite Congress not electing to issue more funding to local governments.
“Given the timeframe they were under I think our communities did a great job rolling out the dollars,” Buckeye Hills Director Misty Crosby said. “I think if they had more time some could’ve planned better.”
Crosby said that Buckeye Hills and the regional Mayors’ Partnership for Progress are drafting a letter to Gov. Mike Dewine to ask how much money the state has left over and whether or not there is a redistribution plan in place that prioritizes rural communities.
OBM does not have a total yet for the number of dollars left on the table out of the initial $1.2 billion allocation. The office files quarterly reports, Murnieks said, and she expects to have that information by the end of January.
“We’re not trying to take our frustrations out on the state,” Crosby said. “All in all everyone did a great job and there was a lot of frustration and there was a lot of good.”
Céilí Doyle is a Report for America corps member and covers rural issues in Ohio for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at https://bit.ly/3fnsgaz. cdoyle@dispatch.com @cadoyle_18