ARP funds fall short

Malloy ‘shocked’ by low amount still available

WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners found out they are millions of dollars short of the nearly $15 million they believed was remaining in American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Attorney Jim Misocky, special projects administrator, told commissioners Denny Malloy and Mauro Cantalamessa during the county's weekly workshop Tuesday that it has approximately $459,000 left in the general fund account of the ARPA funds and another $6 million under a revenue loss category of the nearly $39 million it was given by the federal government.

Commissioner Niki Frenchko did not attend Tuesday's public workshop meeting.

Trumbull County, along with every other government entity, was given ARPA funds by the federal government to address issues either directly or indirectly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The county has until the end of 2024 to identify projects it plans to spend the money on and until the end of 2026 to finish the projects.

Malloy was taken aback at the low amount of ARP funds that remain available to allocate to communities.

"It is a big shock," Malloy said. "I asked for this (spending information) since Day One. There have been a lot of cities and townships that have been waiting to learn whether their projects will be provided ARP funds.

"Those numbers don't add up to anything that I've heard since I arrived here," he said. "When I arrived here, I was told there was $23 million spent and approximately $15 million left to be spent. That's what I was told and what we told the public during two public ARP meetings addressing the funds as well as during our regular meetings. We only spent on a handful of things since those meetings."

"Commissioner Frenchko said she wanted to use $7 million (of the $15 million) on township projects," Malloy said. "I wanted to spend $7.5 million for township projects."

Cantalamessa emphasized he is committed to improving broadband reception, as well as completing water and sewer projects.

"These benefit people in the townships," he said.

Gary Newbrough said the county water and sewer projects he has applied to get funding for benefits thousands of county residents in the townships and villages.

Misocky said these are the numbers that he had been supplying to the commissioners throughout the process.

"Not in this form," Malloy responded. "Why didn't we have these figures when we had the two public meetings on ARPA funds?"

Misocky described the commissioners allocating ARP funds on a variety of projects, including $1 million on an EMS Command Center, $875,000 for a new tower for the Trumbull County 911 center, approximately $3 million through the Valley Partners Small Business loan and grant programs and $5,196,000 on county water and sewer projects.

"We are holding $516,000 for projects to be done at the Trumbull County 911 Center," Misocky said.

Trumbull County Auditor Martha Yoder said some of the confusion about the amount of money that was believed to be available may have been caused because there are two different ways the funds may be used.

The county was allocated about $10 million it could use under a revenue loss category. It was from this category the county was able to balance the sheriff's department's 2022 budget due to overtime spending on salaries and the replacement of a vehicle.

There was $28 million in nonrevenue loss funds that could be used for other projects.

Cantalamessa questioned whether some of the already approved projects could be funded using the revenue-loss fund category, so there will be more money available under ARP's general fund category.

"We may be able to provide up to $4 million to community projects by using revenue-loss funds in county

government-backed projects we already approved," Cantalamessa said.

Malloy suggested the commissioners need to meet to discuss the county's true ARP budget.

"We need to have a coming to Jesus meeting with me, you (Cantalamessa) and Commissioner Frenchko," he said. "We really need to put pen to paper to find what money is out there and exactly where we are at."

Malloy said the commissioners have made commitments to communities and organizations that they may not be able to keep.

Cantalamessa emphasized that any department that has a budgetary shortfall will not be balanced using ARP funds.

"The commissioners will have to deal with it," he said.

Cantalamessa and Yoder suggested they review projects that may have been approved to determine if they require the full amount requested to be completed.

"If we don't ask, we will not know," Cantalamessa said.

Yoder suggested that the county, especially for its size, is in good financial shape, so it could finance some projects, instead of using ARP funds.

"There are some things you are inclined to do, but are just not doable," she said.

"Many of these are worthwhile projects," Cantalamessa said. "We never were going to be able to fund them all."

Yoder suggested the commissioners need to place a pause on accepting new applications for ARP grants.

Cantalamessa also suggested reducing the amounts provided to some requests.

"We need to go through the projects," he said. "Do we have to give them the full amount they are asking for them?"