Trillions in COVID-19 relief funds have gone out to local governments across the country, including more than $36 million to Johnson County.
The county received more than $5.07 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the first of the relief packages, and the county has received half of the $30.7 million it is expected to get from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
CARES Act money was spent by the end of 2020, and ARPA priorities are still being developed, said Shena Johnson, county attorney.
The Johnson County Health Department also received five grants totaling $778,607 to fund a COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinic, and pay employees needed to run it. The grants were awarded to the county with federal funds allocated to Indiana to cover local testing and vaccination sites.
About half of the grant money awarded to the health department has been spent so far, but more expenses will mount as the delta variant continues to spread through the county.
More than $4.2 million of the CARES Act money was used to reimburse the county for public safety pay, a priority due to increased overtime expenses during the pandemic, according to county documents.
The remaining $872,000 was spent on other items to facilitate the county’s COVID-19 response, and to make county buildings more equipped to slow the spread of the virus, county documents show.
The largest expense was a $297,900 project to install touchless bathroom fixtures in county buildings. The next largest expense was a $162,700 touchless body scanner that was installed at the Johnson County jail, according to county documents.
Walk-through temperature scanners, sneeze guards and hand sanitizer dispensers were also installed in all county buildings, along with an air purification system, documents show.
Some additional payroll expenses were covered in addition to public safety, including the county’s project manager, who oversaw the coronavirus-related building projects.
Several pieces of technology were purchased to facilitate teleworking and video court when county buildings and courts were closed due to the pandemic.
Thousands of dollars were spent on personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies and sanitizing wipes. It also covered mileage reimbursements incurred by the county’s Emergency Management Director Stephanie Sichting, who was tasked with driving throughout the county to build up a stockpile of these items.
CARES Act funds are all spent, but the county has not made any plans for ARPA yet.
County officials are taking a slower, more deliberate approach to spending the money in hopes of it going further and benefitting more residents, Johnson said.
“At this time, the county has no specific plans regarding how it plans to spend the ARPA funds,” Johnson said in an email. “While we respect the speed at which other communities have acted to use the ARPA funds, the county is taking a slower approach to brainstorm creative uses, as well as to learn what is working for other entities and how that might translate to benefit the citizens of Johnson County.”
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners last month hired consultant Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors for an amount not to exceed $50,000.
The scope of work in Baker Tilly’s contract includes investigating what revenue loss could be recovered with ARPA funds, and looking at ways to maximize ARPA funding by pairing it with other state and federal funding to complete infrastructure projects.
There is still plenty of time for county officials to decide how to spend the money. Funds have to be assigned or committed to specific projects by the end of 2024, with all funds to be spent by the end of 2026.
By the numbers
Here is a look at COVID-19 relief spending by Johnson County:
CARES Act
Total received: $5,072,482
Total spent: $5,072,482
Health Department grants
Grant money received: $778,607
Grant money spent: $445,401
ARPA
Total: $30,722,086
Total received: $15,361,043
Total spent: $0
