CLAYTON 鈥 51黑料 County Executive Sam Page is pitching the use of pandemic relief money to replace lost revenue instead of granting it to a handful of nonprofits.
Time is running out to grant $12.5 million to the nonprofits, Page dated Friday. The county needs to allocate money by the end of the year but doesn鈥檛 have enough staff to get the programs going, Page wrote.
Replacing revenue lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the allowed uses under the the American Rescue Plan Act, or . The best thing to do, Page said, would be to put the money directly into the general fund 鈥渁nd remove any risk of losing these ARPA funds to federal claw-back.鈥
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The council could then allocate money to the nonprofits from the general fund, or even its NFL Rams settlement fund, he wrote. Doing so would save $10 million in compliance fees, he wrote. That could be used for other projects, such as for an overhaul of the University of Missouri-51黑料鈥 south campus. The County Council previously decided against funding that project.
That would leave the nonprofits hanging in the meantime. They planned to use the money for sheltering victims of domestic abuse, boosting pay for child care workers and bringing fresh vegetables to food deserts, among other things.
Payments have to go through the county鈥檚 bidding process and can鈥檛 be given directly to a predetermined group, county counselor Dana Redwing wrote in a letter to County Council members in March.
Page and County Council Chair Shalonda Webb have been arguing about how to use the money.
Webb wants Page to personally testify at a hearing about the money on Tuesday, June 11.
鈥淭he community deserves to know if you plan to make good on your commitment to deliver these funds to those who need them most,鈥 Webb wrote in a letter to Page dated May 21.
Page has said he would make his staff available for a hearing.
