Cities, counties lose some $87 million in CARES Act money

Almost $90 million of funding for Alabama municipalities will be rerouted.

That was the news that members of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama received Monday, Jan. 11.

In an emailed communication from ACCA Executive Director Sonny Brasfield to the 67 member counties, county government officials were told that some $70 million in CARES—Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security—Act funds would be rerouted to the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund. “Counties were completely blindsided,” Brasfield told county government officials. “The ACCA cannot express in strong enough terms its disappointment and dismay at today’s decision.”

At issue is the news that, at the recommendation of the Alabama Department of Finance, a panel of six Alabama state legislators unanimously withdrew some $70 million in CARES Act funding from the $250 million originally earmarked for counties and cities. According to actual data from the Coronavirus Relief Fund website, a total of the funds lost by counties is $45,235,604.27. The total of funds lost by municipalities is $42,340,399.03. The total of those numbers is $87,576.003.30.

“The ACCA learned Jan. 8 that the withdrawal was proposed earlier that day and the staff immediately mobilized and requested that the final decision be delayed,” Brasefield said. “Today’s action will likely leave dozens of counties holding receipts for expenditures that will not be reimbursed.”

Brasefield said that counties had more than $45 million in allowable reimbursement authority before the decision was made. “The ACCA staff strongly expressed its opposition to this maneuver and made contacts with legislative leaders on behalf of counties, hoping to avoid this decision,” he said.

Brasefield said that the “shifting of this revenue” required the unanimous vote of Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, State Reps. Steve Clouse and Bill Poole and State Senators Greg Albritton and Arthur Orr. The vote came after State Finance Director Kelly Butler recommended that the funds be shifted to help prop up the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund in order to reduce costs to local businesses, he added.

“Many counties have expended funds based on email communication stating that items would be eligible for reimbursement only to learn today that funding has not been withdrawn without warning,” Brasfield said. “Counties were never given a deadline for seeking reimbursement, despite almost weekly communication between the ACCA and the Department of Finance. Without such a deadline, counties were completely blindsided.”

Brasefield said that while ACCA could not say for certain that all CARES Act fund applications received after the announcement would be rejected, “we are also not certain how much, if any, funding will be available after today’s vote so each county must decide if it wished to submit applications in the hopes that funds are available.”

“For more than six months, counties have struggled with changing guidance, inconsistent responses and moving eligibility requirements,” Brasfield said.

Data from the Coronavirus Relief Fund website indicates that Coffee County and the city of Enterprise were reimbursed all the CARES Act funding that had been allocated to them, which was $1,592,529 and $1,364,523, respectively. According to the data, the town of New Brockton did not use any of the $84,527 budgeted for the town. The City of Elba shows $204,902 budgeted and $11,817 not spent and rerouted.

Dale County has $859,934 in funding that has been rerouted. The Town of Pinckard used all of their allocated $54,739 except for $5,306 which will be rerouted.

Daleville with a budgeted $265,846, Clayhatchee with a budgeted $52,615 and Newton with a budgeted $93,732 did not seek reimbursement for any of those funds and they were therefore rerouted.

Ozark was allocated $599,293, and $541,228 of funding was rerouted.