Commissioners receive ARPA and program reports, ask for clearer spending data

Oakland County commissioners voted to receive and file a series of communications and quarterly reports on March 4, 2025, but several commissioners pressed staff for clearer accounting of remaining ARPA funds and program spending.

The communications packet included updates from the Oakland County Health Network (OCHN), legal aid, the Healthy Food Access Initiative, Roads, Ramps and Repairs, the School Mental Health Fund Initiative and a Senior Chores pilot program. Commissioners asked staff to return with more-detailed, regularly updated summaries that reconcile how funds are allocated, spent and categorized between administrative and service expenses.

Commissioner Evan Spitz moved to receive and file the materials, with support from Commissioner Taylor; the motion passed unanimously, recorded as six yeas and zero nays. Commissioners also asked staff to request additional detail and schedule presentations where useful.

Commissioner Spitz highlighted inconsistent figures in the OCHN school navigator reporting, saying the narrative indicated “77% of $1,400,000” used while a chart reported $273,305 remaining. He asked staff to reconcile whether the discrepancy was a timing issue, an administrative-vs.-service categorization difference, or a reporting error. County staff said they would coordinate with budget and finance and OCHN to correct the reporting and share a clarified report.

Commissioner Spitz and others also asked for a plan to accelerate spending in newer programs. Commissioners were told the county’s justice team has a detailed work plan for the co-responder/full responder program and will share it; the full-responder program shows about $140,000 used to date and must be spent by December 2026 because it is ARPA funding, according to discussion during the meeting.

Commissioners raised questions about an Oxford Benefit Grant originally set aside at $570,000, of which about $170,000 has been used and roughly $400,000 remained; staff said clinical teams would advise on how long demand is likely to continue and report back. Commissioners also asked for more detail from Legal Aid on how ARPA funding was allocated and spent and for clarification of overlapping date ranges and metrics on the OSHA-related report, which several commissioners said appeared to have overlapping or copy-pasted date ranges.

Commissioner Gershenson asked staff to follow up with each submitting division and request consistent reporting templates showing amounts spent, funds remaining, any time sensitivity, and whether unspent funds had been moved to the general fund or were still subject to ARPA spending deadlines.

The board voted to receive and file the communications and directed staff to return with reconciled figures and additional presentations as needed.