What happened to $10M in COVID aid? Benton should be ashamed by its vague response

Benton County has been singled out statewide for its lack of transparency and cooperation, and needs to come clean.

Crosscut, an independent, nonprofit news site based in Seattle, recently published a report on how local governments throughout Washington state used federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act which was created to help communities through the pandemic.

Crosscut filed records requests with officials in over 30 counties asking for a detailed accounting of how they spent ARPA money.

What they got in return was a mix.

Some counties provided spreadsheets outlining exactly how the federal infusion was being used. Others gave only vague descriptions like “sheriff equipment” or “website upgrade,” according to the report.

But getting information from Benton County must have been frustrating because the author made a point of saying that “multiple officials there consistently declined to say how the $10 million the county claimed in ‘revenue replacement’ was being used.”

And the unsigned response from Benton County to Crosscut’s records request said only that the money was deposited in the county’s general fund.

The public deserves a better accounting than that.

How exactly was the money spent? That’s what taxpayers want to know.

The trouble is, as Crosscut points out, the U.S. Treasury Department made a new rule early this year that allows smaller government agencies to simply add $10 million of its ARPA money into their general budgets with no real strings attached.

That means the money can be used for “government services” and “revenue replacement” and other fuzzy categories that are considered good enough for federal accounting purposes.

A detailed explanation of how the money is being used, unfortunately, is not required.

The change was made to give local governments more flexibility and to help keep small government finance departments from getting overwhelmed with paperwork.

But transparency is being sacrificed in order to reduce administrative burdens.

Benton County received about $19.8 million overall from ARPA and provided documentation for about $8 million of that, according to Crosscut.

But it’s the rest of those federal funds citizens are now wondering how they were used.

To be fair, Benton County isn’t the only government agency who took advantage of the $10 million accounting rule.

Most other counties and cities around the state also provided general explanations of how that money was used when they made their financial report to the U.S. Treasury last spring.

Crosscut noted that of 310 local governments in Washington state, 267 of them — or 86% — claimed their $10 million as revenue replacement.

Pasco called it “general government services.”

Franklin County reported the funds were being used for “various projects, priorities currently being identified.”

Franklin County Administrator Keith Johnson, however, was quoted telling Crosscut that the county designated about $8 million to renovate the courthouse and jail in Pasco. And about $700,000 went to the sheriff’s department to purchase a mobile command trailer, body armor and other equipment.

Franklin County also created a business grant program with the ARPA money.

To its credit, Kennewick reported to the federal government that it used its ARPA money for 16 items. That included water and sewer infrastructure, coliseum facility improvements, police department fleet replacements, pavement preservation, facility HVAC replacements, pickleball courts at Lawrence Scott Park, upgrades at fire stations and other improvements throughout the city.

Richland also provided a detailed list — Fire Station 76, utility bill assistance, and EMS mandatory COVID testing.

Kennewick and Richland’s listing of exact expenditures is commendable, and an example of how the reporting should be done.

Just because there is a legal way to vaguely say where ARPA money is going doesn’t mean local government officials have to be so unresponsive about explaining how they spent it.

The federal financial boost came to help struggling communities during COVID. Not knowing how it’s actually being used is unsettling.

Benton County now has been called out statewide. It would be wise to give the public a better understanding of how that $10 million is being spent.

This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 12:33 PM.