Boast Says CARES Act Requirements Needed Clarity

The Coronavirus Relief Fund established in last March’s CARES Act set aside $150 billion for state and local governments to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, but District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast said the constant changing of rules and murky guidelines created difficulties for Crawford County’s committee.

Established late last spring, the committee was made up of Boast, chairperson Lesa Mizell, accountant Darrell Layman, attorney Bill Lange and Presiding Commissioner Leo Sanders.

The committee has worked over the last several months to disburse $2.8 million that Crawford County was eligible for.

How much money a county received was based on population.

The deadline for CARES Act applications was Tuesday and there is no indication that it will be carried into 2021.

Whatever is left must be returned to the US Treasury.

Boast reflected on the struggles the committee faced with a staffer from the office of US Rep. Jason Smith (R) on Tuesday.

The criteria for approving an expenditure was narrow and unclear.

It had to be a necessary expenditure incurred due to COVID-19, was not accounted for in a budget approved as of March 27, 2020 and incurred from March 1, 2020 through Dec. 30, 2020.

Boast said that the standards were uneven from county to county. If one county was able to use CARES Act funds to purchase an ambulance because there was nothing in service, that didn’t necessarily mean another county could.

Boast tried to explain that the needs of every county throughout the state were different.

He also said the committee needed a paid receipt of an expenditure.

“It had to be paid for,” Boast said. “We had to see a receipt. It either has to be in service or there has to be a contract.”

Then there was the trouble of figuring out how to pay for an auidt.

“There is no way to find someone to do an audit by March,” he said. “It makes it tough to answer questions from people.” 

Several taxing entities that received CARES Act funds to make a large purchase either used reserve money or had to borrow the money to receive reimbursement.

Boast is concerned over what might happen to those entities if — one year from now — an audit declares that purchase didn’t fall under requirements.

“That’s out of their pocket,” he said.

Boast said that if there is another round of CARES Act funding next year, he hopes for a better playbook.

However, he would like to see the federal government put together a small business package first.

“It will be needed,” he said. “We need to close out the CARES Act first.”