Op-Ed: Why using fed funds makes sense

Last year, Kootenai County was allocated $32,184,700 through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Soon the county’s ARPA Task Force will present recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners (the Board) for how the county should spend that money — we anticipate the Board’s decision in early April.

As we approach this milestone, I’d like to clarify what the SLFRF program is and what it means to Kootenai County. I also hope to address concerns about ARPA held by certain citizens within Kootenai and neighboring counties, and explain why I am comfortable recommending that the Board use these funds.

Recipients of funding, including Kootenai County, may spend these funds to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as they see fit within the Final Rule for the SLFRF program provided by the United States Treasury. Here in North Idaho, several local groups have expressed that the funds should be returned instead, citing concerns that conditions on accepting the funds could oblige local governments to accept an overreach of federal authority in the future. I understand how language in the Award Terms and Conditions and the SLFRF Final Rule, divorced from context, can appear to support that narrative. However, I will be relying on legal counsel here at Kootenai County, Bonner County, and the Idaho State Legislature who all agree that concern is not warranted as elaborated below.

As written, the Award Terms and Conditions and the Final Rule create no obligations for Kootenai County outside the SLFRF program. The only conditions they impose on the use of SLFRF funds are that expenditures must align with the eligible use categories provided in the Final Rule; must comply with the law and with already established uniform regulations for federal funding and must be reported to the Treasury as described in the SLFRF Compliance and Reporting Guidance. None of the existing conditions are cause for concern, and Supreme Court case law establishes that the federal government does not have any right to change the conditions on grant funding after that funding has been accepted.

Another concern regards the Final Rule’s restrictions on the use of SLFRF funds. Recipients may not use SLFRF funds “for a program, service or capital expenditure that … undermines efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.” The Final Rule is specific in describing this restriction. The disallowed action is using SLFRF funds to discourage practices in line with CDC guidelines for stopping the spread of COVID-19. This rule does not give the CDC any ability to dictate behavior to local governments. It forbids us from using SLFRF funds to discourage others from following CDC guidelines, but it does not require us to follow the guidelines ourselves. To clarify, the acceptance and use of ARPA SLFRF funds does not obligate Kootenai County to institute masking, vaccination or social distancing mandates at any level.

Another opinion I’ve heard shared is that ARPA was a hugely irresponsible fiscal decision — and personally, I agree. ARPA is a $1.9 trillion gamble made with current and future taxpayer dollars. However: Congress voted, and the gamble is made. The Board has the power to mitigate the risk by investing Kootenai County’s share of funds as wisely as possible so that, long-term, our community gains more in value than the federal government spent in tax dollars. No matter what I think of ARPA as a piece of legislation, I cannot in good conscience encourage that Kootenai County send funds borrowed from its own taxpayers to be invested in other counties or states. As Kootenai County treasurer and as a member of the county’s ARPA Task Force, my responsibility is to work toward the best possible outcome.

To that end, the Task Force solicited funding requests from county departments as well as local businesses, agencies and nonprofits, and is currently ranking each eligible request according to uniform criteria. Our guiding priorities are summarized as follows:

Kootenai County SLFRF Funds should be spent on extraordinary needs brought on by the public health emergency or its social and economic consequences. The Task Force will rank projects with an eye to long-term outcomes, and prioritize requests which would be difficult to fund through other grants or ordinary budget processes.

At the time of writing, we have received over 60 requests for funding amounting to more than $90 million. Of those, 45 requests amounting to more than $79 million are eligible for funding and will be ranked for recommendation to the Board.

Commissioner Leslie Duncan will be holding a town hall meeting on March 8 in advance of project recommendation and selection. I encourage the public to attend this meeting and make your priorities known or send your input to the ARPA Task Force via email at ARPA@kcgov.us, especially if you support a particular project or agree with using SLFRF Coronavirus relief funds in general. More information about ARPA and the SLFRF program can be found on Kootenai County’s ARPA webpage, including a full list of project requests currently under consideration.

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Steve Matheson is Kootenai County treasurer.