Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Local businesses, organizations and individuals that received CARES-Act monies during the last round of COVID-19 stimulus funding may be subject to a compliance audit.
The issue first came up at the Jefferson County Commission meeting on Thursday evening, March 4, raised by Commissioner Eugene Hall, who asked if random audits would be performed to ensure that recipients of the surplus money had used the money as intended.
Hall’s suggestion, however, went nowhere, as it failed to get support from the other commissioners.
But on Thursday, March 18, Commissioner Betsy Barfield, who had been absent at the earlier meeting, raised the issue again, saying that she though it warranted serious consideration.
“I think it’s a good idea to do spot check audits to ensure that the money was spent properly,” Barfield said, adding that it behooved the local government to show that it was exercising due diligence to ensure the proper use of the CARES-Act money.
“If we do above what is required, I feel we’ll be in a better position to get additional stimulus funding,” Barfield said. “Besides, it’s all taxpayers money and it’s our job to make sure that it was spent properly.” Commissioner J. T. Surles said he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea. But he wanted to know how much it would cost the county to have the audits done.
He had also understood, he said, that such monitoring had been factored into the distribution process.
“I thought that’s why we hired these people to do it upfront,” Surles said, referring to the consultant firm of Government Services Group (GSG), which assisted county staff with the distribution of the CARES-Act funding.
The audits, Barfield said, were an extra step to ensure that the money was being used appropriately.
“We can’t run scared,” she said, asking that the item be placed on the agenda for a full discussion at the commission meeting on April 1.
One of the innumerable requirements of the more than $2.3 trillion CARES Act stimulus package that Congress passed in March 2020 to stimulate the U.S. economy and help businesses and individuals adversely impacted by the pandemic was that compliance audits be performed to prevent fraud, waste or misuse of the funds.
These single audits, as they are called, reportedly focused on the compliance aspect, as well as an organization’s internal policies, procedures and other controls that are put in place to ensure that the money is spent in accordance with the regulations.
Noncompliance with the federal regulations, according to the literature, “can lead to negative consequence, such as repayment of the funding.”
Jefferson County, according to the last figures provided by GSG in early March, received $2,658,740 as its cut of the CARES-Act funding that was allocated to the state.
A breakdown of the county’s distribution of the money, as presented by David Johosky of GSG to the commission on March 4, showed $592,913 going to public safety and public health services; $1,366,323 going to economic support and recovery for small businesses and to make workplaces COVID-19 safer; $252,510 for social services and residents needs; $229,554 for other unmet needs; and $217,440 for the program’s administration.
All told, according to Johosky, the county had distributed $1,896,135 of the $2,658,740, leaving $762,605 unused as of Feb. 17, 2021.
In terms of the non public safety or health service recipients, according to the data, $109,631 of the money went to 38 individuals for mortgage or rental assistance, and $673,478 went to 39 small businesses in the community.