In September 2021 and October 2022, Hays County received two rounds of funding, each worth $22,355,951.50 for a grand total of $44,711,903, from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
With that funding, the county allocated $10,711,903 to countywide needs, including $5 million for the long-awaited public defender’s office, Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith said. Some of that $10 million has also been used for mandates relative to the elections office.
The remaining $34 million was evenly distributed between all four precincts, each getting $8.5 million. With each slice of the $34 million, each commissioner can identify needs within their own precinct to help allocate funding for, according to county officials.
“We made the decision that we could partner with others to provide funding to anything else related to countywide needs,” Smith said.
However, there are strings attached to federal funding, which the county found out the hard way after losing nearly $2.5 million of Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds in December 2021 and February 2022 in total, for not meeting the minimum spending requirement.
The county was allocated nearly $7 million in federal funding, also from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, that remained largely untouched for more than six months, leading to two rounds of recaptured funds.
“[ARPA] funds must be committed by Dec. 31, 2024, and expended by Dec. 31, 2026,” said Arin Gray, president of CD&P, a public engagement firm working with the county. “We are on track to utilize the full $44.7 million in APRA funds within the deadlines.”
Determining eligibility
Following the loss of funds, Hays County selected Ardurra Group Inc., a consulting firm within the public and private sectors, to run the ERA program in February; Ardurra is also the county’s program manager for ARPA funds and works in conjunction with CD&P.
The scope of Ardurra’s work revolves around ensuring the funds are used appropriately to help small businesses, nonprofits and the public sector recover from potential losses of revenue as a result of the pandemic.
In January, the U.S. Treasury released requirements for the SLFRF program called “The Final Rule,” which went into effect April 1.
The Final Rule outlines eligible and ineligible uses of the funds which need to be documented, verified and presented, in this case, to the Hays County Commissioners Court for approval.
The “grantee,” or applying organization, must prove that it has experienced a financial loss or hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding then may only be used by the grantee for normal operating working capital uses, including rent, payroll, utilities and more, according to contracts drafted by the county.
Grantees must be a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit; a 501 (c)(19), which is dedicated to veterans or active members of the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy, Space Force or Coast Guard; a small-business lending company; or a small business with less than 500 employees as of July 14, 2022.
Distributing funds locally
At a countywide level, each commissioner has allocated funds to the mental health specialty court, emergency radio infrastructure and upgrades, breast cancer screenings, and $200,000 each toward the $17 million contract with LaSalle Corrections in Haskell County for the outsourcing of inmates.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell has individually allocated $21,600 to the Wimberley Education Foundation, a nonprofit that generates and distributes resources toward teaching, learning and other needs within Wimberley ISD.
The WEF saw a revenue loss of $21,630.55 from 2019 to 2020, according to Hays County agenda documents.
On Oct. 11, the commissioners received presentations on behalf of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Central Texas as well as Hays, Wimberley and Dripping Springs ISDs, though no action was taken at the meeting.
One in five students in the U.S. experiences a clinical mental health disorder, according to the National Association for Mental Illness, prompting $200,000 to be allocated to each school district to help provide resources for students suffering from mental health issues and substance abuse.
Funds used for prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction in mental health and behavioral health spaces related to or as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible uses of ARPA funds, according to the U.S. Treasury guidelines, which will allow the districts to hire more mental health professionals.
During the Hays County Commissioners Court meeting Aug. 2, Ardurra Senior Project Manager Eric Boehning gave a presentation regarding the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center and its eligibility to receive ARPA funding; the commissioners unanimously approved $644,000 for the HCWC the following week.
“We have been assembling these [documents] with the overall goal of having a clear methodology and logic utilizing the U.S. Treasury’s framework for how to determine eligibility,” Boehning said at the meeting. “[The documents] are there for when the inevitable audit comes down from the federal government. ... The decisions made at the time, costs associated and reasoning within the legislation—is very clear and presently laid out.”
The HCWC is a nonprofit based in San Marcos that offers free and confidential services to victims of family or dating violence, sexual assault, or child abuse; its services are available to those who live, work or attend school in Hays or Caldwell counties.
As a nonprofit, funding for the center generally comes from grant applications and donations, which were stifled without in-person fundraising events during lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions, Boehning said.
“We were functioning still, we were able to maintain services, and we pivoted and saw some changes that we had to incorporate during COVID-19,” HCWC CEO Melissa Rodriguez said. “Since then, numbers have increased pretty [dramatically], especially in our shelter. That was the impetus for the funding that we received from the county.”
The funding will allow the center to continue to offer its services and resources, and it will also add more bedrooms in the emergency shelter.
COVID-19, compounding issues
The HCWC had been raising money for years to create another sanctuary for victims, Marla’s Place, and was finally able to break ground in April 2020. However, from February 2020-March 2022, construction prices increased by almost 40%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Throughout the pandemic, the women’s center was helping more families, hitting capacity sometimes, as those in need did not have any other options, Rodriguez said. Globally, there was a 36% average increase in domestic violence during time periods of quarantine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The number of shelter days increased over 54%, and we were at capacity almost every single day,” Rodriguez said.
The funding from the county helped complete Marla’s Place, its transitional housing facility, as final construction costs increased by more than $300,000 according to the Ardurra presentation.
Supply chain issues, inflation and the increase in domestic violence created a perfect storm for the women’s center, as it struggled to meet the needs of the community under an increasing expenditure budget for the facility.
Center staff worked with Ardurra over a couple of months to submit financial reports that document the budget deficit as well as increasing costs and needs of other projects, Rodriguez said.
Smith said he urges nonprofits and other organizations that qualify or may qualify for ARPA funding to contact the commissioner who represents the precinct where the organization is located. The county and Ardurra will step in to determine whether it may be eligible for any funding.
As of Nov. 22, the county has more than $8.6 million that has yet to be committed to an organization or need. Where those remaining funds go must be decided over the next two years.
“We had a larger conversation [with the county] about what our needs are and dug in deep to make sure we had met the criteria,” Rodriguez said. “We were able to make it work, which helped us tremendously, because we definitely were facing some issues getting our project finished.”
