by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

County Auditor Robin Mills said Monday that her office has scheduled a joint meeting of the Hamilton County Council and County Commissioners for April 23 to hopefully develop “a strategic plan” for the administration and distribution of COVID relief funds.

The county is due to receive $65.6 million over the next two years from the huge $2.9 trillion federal government program designed to compensate local governments for losses suffered as a result of the national pandemic.

Rules on where, when and how the money can be awarded are contained in the federal relief law, which is more than 300 pages long.

Mills

“It’s going to be a long process,” Mills said. She and county grants administrator Todd Clevenger are working on it, along with the assistance of financial consultant Mike Reuter.

That process will start at the April 23 meeting. Mills points out that “I don’t have a vote” on deciding when and where the millions of dollars will go, but she does feel the responsibility for helping to organize handling of the county’s single largest grant in history.

Where is the money likely to go? Some obvious local agencies that are eligible for compensation of lost revenue are county parks and the county tourism bureau.

But, these losses are small in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, the county survived the pandemic in good financial shape, the auditor notes.

Apparently, in certain areas the county can award funds to county schools, libraries and other public institutions which did not get money from the local grant.

The money will first be available on May 10. Despite a long process ahead, the money must be distributed by the end of 2024 or it reverts to the federal treasury.