Jackson County seems to have finally resolved standoff over how to spend $70M of ARPA aid
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver brokered an agreement late Tuesday that appears to have averted the risk of Jackson County being forced to return $70.4 million in COVID-19 relief funds to the federal government.
County legislators announced the deal at a special meeting Wednesday afternoon. It would preserve the county’s use of those American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, ending a legislative standoff that put that money on the line.
Final approval of the plan is expected to come at a meeting on Thursday.
Prior to the Zoom call he initiated to urge compromise between legislators and the county administration, Cleaver told The Star that he was exasperated and embarrassed by the impasse. The county has until the end of the year to commit the money to uses approved by the federal government.
“It became obvious to me that the members of the legislature may not understand the finality of a federal deadline,” Cleaver said Tuesday outside the House chamber in the nation’s capital.
The nine-member legislature was divided over how to spend the money. Five favored handing it out to community groups and local governments with projects they needed help paying for.
The other four had sided with County Executive Frank White, Jr., who said the other faction’s plan would not qualify under federal rules that govern the use of ARPA money. Cleaver intended to use at least half the money on county projects.
Cleaver convinced the former faction, headed by legislators Manny Abarca and DaRon Mcgee, to back down on their demands and approve a compromise that White and County Administrator Troy Schulte suggested more than a week ago.
Under the agreement, the county will use an accounting trick approved by the feds that would spend the ARPA money on salaries and existing county contracts over the next three years.
The county would then shift an equal amount of county tax dollars into two pots. One would pay for the county public works projects that White wanted to spend the ARPA money on, such as much-needed renovations and repairs at the county courthouse.
The other half would go to support the nonprofits and local government projects that the Abacra and McGee faction want to subsidize. Legislators will decide next year on who will get those dollars.
Seven legislators co-sponsored the ordinance that will make the compromise law, if nothing changes before Thursday’s vote.
“It has been a bumpy road, to say the least, and it’s not been without everybody working hard over the past two, three years,” said Jeanie Lauer, this year’s chair of the county legislature. “It takes a lot to come together, as is shown by the sponsorship on this, on this legislation. I really respect all of you for doing that.”
The ordinance might have been approved Wednesday by unanimous consent. But legislator Sean Smith said he would not vote for it, delaying the decision at least one more day.
