Benton County prepares for federal windfall

The Benton County Courthouse.
The Benton County Courthouse.

BENTONVILLE -- The Benton County Quorum Court proposed a special fund for a windfall of $27 million in federal taxpayer money, where the money will stay until the county gets clear guidance on what it can spend the money for.

The money will arrive within days, County Judge Barry Moehring told Monday's meeting of the court's Finance Committee. Another $27 million will arrive from the U.S. Treasury 18 months later. In addition, the Finance Committee approved a plan to cooperate with Washington County to get the region its $12 million share of more federal money available for community health.

All these taxpayer dollars are headed to the county government from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in March, in response to the economic and health damage done by the covid-19 pandemic. The money coming to the county is over and above what cities within the county will receive, the Quorum Court members were told by Moehring.

Several members of the court expressed dismay over what they described as reckless federal spending for which taxpayers will foot the bill. But the money is appropriated by Congress. The Quorum Court has no say in the timing or the amounts, several committee members noted.

"I can't tell you how opposed I am to spending all this money we don't have," Quorum Court member Mike McKenzie of Rogers said, referring to federal deficit spending.

"I'm very, very conflicted," he said.

Fellow court member Susan Anglin of Bentonville said to McKenzie she agreed with him in principle, but the county is getting the money regardless, by act of Congress. "We're not going to stop it from being spent," she said.

The county has serious infrastructure needs, including space for courts and a jail but has not heard back from the federal government on whether the money can be spent on such projects, according to committee members. The money can be spent for expenses directly related to covid, but Quorum Court member Joseph Bollinger of Bella Vista and others pointed out the county hasn't been able to spend all the federal money received before for such assistance. Also, using the money to underwrite a tax cut is forbidden, Moehring told the committee.

The $12 million available for community health would be administered by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and would be in addition to the two payments of $27 million. The Rescue Plan requires a county or city to be the lead recipient of the money, rather than distributing the money to nonprofit entities. As described at the meeting, the plan would be for UAMS to distribute money to nonprofit groups in the Northwest Arkansas region to hire community health specialists. Those specialists would work to improve area residents' health, both covid-related and other regional health problems.

The proposal to apply for the $12 million was approved unanimously after Moehring told the committee the county was entitled to the money under the congressional act and had a responsibility to claim its share. "We're pay the taxes and our grand-kids will be paying the debt," he said.

The proposal to create a separate account for the incoming installments of $27 million each was approved 13 to 1, with Bollinger objecting to accepting money with no plan. Moehring said during discussion there are not enough answers from the federal government yet to make a plan.

Committee chairman Tom Allen assured the committee members the topic of how to spend the money will get a thorough debate. "There will be lots of lengthy discussions on where this money is going to go," he said.

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