By FRED SWIFT
The County Line
What’s the holdup?
Hamilton County officials have again postponed action on the disbursement of American Recovery Act funds to small businesses and community non-profit charitable organizations. These groups have applied for the federal money designed to compensate for losses during the pandemic.
The county is to receive $65.5 million, and currently has access to half of that. Local governments have been encouraged to get the funds into the hands of deserving applicants as quickly as possible. It would seem that doing so by holiday-time would be both helpful and welcomed.
Our county officials are trying hard to make certain that applicants meet the qualifications set by federal authorities. This is as it should be, and apparently part of the reason for delaying decisions for several weeks.
However, it appears now that personal commitments of individual officials have resulted in moving the decision date until Jan. 14. In the meantime, there are about 60 small businesses and 40 non-profit organizations waiting to see if they will receive financial help.
Local government agencies are also entitled to share in the huge federal grant. They are not in immediate need, but some of the other applicants may be. It is true that the county has another two years to spend their windfall, but let’s hope schedules will permit more timely distribution in the future.
If your point is to complain about the foot dragging of ‘individual officials’ – you should be naming names Fred.
Those same officials will go on about transparency during election time as it’s a positive buzzword, so hold their feet to the fire on that point by identifying them. Thats what reporters (should ) do Fred.