Pratt County staff raise alarm after state moves to reassign long-dormant CDBG revolving-loan funds

Heather, a county staff member, told the Pratt County Board of Commissioners that the Kansas Department of Commerce has begun a statewide effort to "resend" Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) revolving-loan funds established in 1998 and redistribute the grant-funded balances. She said the county received a letter directing the return of these funds and that the Department of Commerce has scheduled a conference to explain the process.

Heather said the local account holds both federal grant dollars and a local match, and she estimated the county's original local match to be about $45,000. "It would be my contention that we don't owe anything above that back to the state," she said, while acknowledging questions remain about whether interest earned on either the match or the grant portion must be returned and whether the county can trace transactions back to 1998.

County finance staff told commissioners the current account balance is $157,004.36 and are assembling a transaction history to reconcile the account. Staff noted tracing interest and transactions to the original grant will be challenging and that Great Plains Development Authority has administered the local fund historically. Heather said she and other county staff will attend the Commerce conference, and that the county intends to press that any bona fide local-match funds remain in county possession.

Commissioners did not take formal action during the meeting but directed staff to stay involved in communications with the state and Great Plains Development Authority and to report back. The county's next steps include attending the Commerce briefing and attempting to document the original local-match amounts and interest history to support the county's position.

The transcript identifies the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Community Development Block Grant program as the authoritative sources cited by staff. The county has not yet received a definitive, written state determination on whether local-match funds or interest will be retained locally; staff said Commerce's letter set an August deadline for return in some cases and that the county will press for clarity at the upcoming conference.