{"id":9188,"date":"2020-10-21T10:56:53","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T15:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/?p=9188"},"modified":"2020-10-21T19:25:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T00:25:13","slug":"oregon-county-spends-1-2-million-in-cares-act-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/politics\/government\/oregon-county-spends-1-2-million-in-cares-act-funds-20201021","title":{"rendered":"Oregon County Spends $1.2 million in Cares Act Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alton, Mo. \u2013 <\/strong>In June, Oregon County Presiding Commissioner Patrick Ledgerwood said not a dime had been spent of the funding the county receives due to COVID-19 preparedness. Months later, the county is following the government guidelines to use the funds to the best and highest purposes.<\/p>\n

Who Gets The Funds?<\/h2>\n

Now, approximately four months later, Ledgerwood said the county has issued funds to the four schools (Alton, Couch, Koshkonong, and Thayer), to law enforcement agencies, and to the Oregon County Health Department.<\/p>\n

Ledgerwood was confident in each schools\u2019 administration knowing the best way to use the funds. He said,<\/p>\n

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Some of the schools were very precise in what they needed the money for, such as virtual learning, whether it be an online program fee, devices or assisting families with internet services.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ledgerwood said that taking care of the senior center agencies is a high priority. Meanwhile, after the first initial phases, the county plans to re-visit the schools and could possibly provide them with more funding. He further said,<\/p>\n

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One thing that was allowable since police officers are considered front-line workers \u2013 even if they are doing normal duties \u2013 they are out there, so we can help with payroll for them. The health department made some requests so we gave them what they wanted.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When talking about the guidelines and reporting issues related to the CARES Act funds, Ledgerwood expressed frustrations and concerns. \u201cOur hands are so tied. How this has been handled is a joke,\u201d said Ledgerwood. It is frustrating to him as a county leader to have funds available, but with so many restrictions and guidelines on how the money can be spent, there is a high probability not all $1.2 million will be spent. \u201cSpending it all in an allowable manner,\u201d is the challenge the county faces.<\/p>\n

Ledgerwood explained that \u201cone size fits all approach\u201d [1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 is hard to do in rural communities.<\/p>\n

Private Business?<\/h2>\n

The next phase of dispersing funds deals with non-profits and private businesses. Even though Ledgerwood wants to see businesses receive some much deserved and need assistance, he also wants to protect them for what may come as a result of receiving funds.<\/p>\n

Not only do the guidelines on the funding restrict things, but the stress of dealing with an audit is inevitable. Ledgerwood went on to say,<\/p>\n

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With this much money, you are going to get audited.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His fear is that in the future a local business will be audited and it\u2019s determined that the business didn\u2019t spend the funds within the \u201cguidelines\u201d. They will be required to pay that money back. Ledgerwood said the auditing requirements are just as challenging to deal with as the guidelines.<\/p>\n

The county has been reaching out to businesses and asking them what are some things that they had to do to prevent the spread and still be in business? Loss of revenue is something that is allowable, but Ledgerwood said proving loss of revenue will be required due to auditing requirements.<\/p>\n

Oregon County Sales Tax<\/h2>\n

Ledgerwood discussed the sales tax in Oregon County, which is up. He has observed an economic trend over the years. When gas prices are down, local sales tax goes down and when gas prices are up, local sales tax goes up. He said the COVID-19 pandemic has had a similar effect of high gas prices, and people have stayed close to home.\u00a0 “The sales tax revenue being up tells me that there is a percentage of businesses that have lost no revenue because of this. It will be interesting and educational in this process, to see which ones have hurt and which ones haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clerk\u2019s office is open for inquiries at 417-778-7475.<\/p>\n

Timeline<\/h2>\n

Ledgerwood originally thought there would be an extension from the Dec. 31 spend date, to use the funds. However, now he doesn\u2019t believe there will be an extension. \u201cI\u2019m not saying we can\u2019t spend all of it, but I have my doubts,\u201d said Ledgerwood. If there are funds leftover from the $1,235,262, it will be sent back to the state.<\/p>\n

The amount of funds received is based on the county\u2019s 2019 population of 10,529.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Notes:<\/h4>
  1. ^<\/a>https:\/\/www.areawidenews.com\/story\/2841388.html (go back  ↩)<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Oregon county is following the government guidelines to use the funds for the best and highest purposes..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[217,215,211,201,264,205],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9188"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9195,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions\/9195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.altonmo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}