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Pierce County to tap contingency funds after federal grant terms clash with court injunction
Summary
The Pierce County executive notified council it intends to use up to $180,000 in contingency funds to cover a juvenile-court program after a pass-through nonprofit declined a federal subaward that included conditions the county says its preliminary injunction bars.
Pierce County announced at its Feb. 24 council meeting that the executive intends to allocate up to $180,000 from a miscellaneous federal contingency fund to support juvenile-court operations after a negotiation impasse over federal grant conditions.
Julie Murray, counsel to Executive Mello, told the council that the county had been a subrecipient to an award administered by the Center for Children and Youth Justice and that new federal terms — which Murray described as tying compliance to certain executive-order provisions related to gender identity — were inserted during a revised subrecipient agreement. Murray said the county invoked its preliminary injunction and returned the award with objections; the center ultimately declined to accept the altered agreement.
"It was a $90,000 a year grant that supports currently what we call the baby court," Murray said, describing the program that would have been funded. With no agreement reached and litigation an option that would be time-consuming and costly, Murray said the county chose to access contingency funding "rather than do that." She warned the council that the legal landscape is uncertain while appeals to the Ninth Circuit remain pending and that outcomes could require future adjustments to funding choices.
Council members pressed for context about the scale of federal funding to the county and the legal risks of declining or accepting awards with contested conditions. Murray said federal support across departments — including HHS, HUD, FEMA and others — amounts to roughly $100 million a year when combined, and that the county has been selective about accepting awards that would require compliance contrary to the county's asserted injunction rights.
The executive presented this action to the council as a notice; Murray said the use of contingency funds for this purpose does not require council approval but that council members should be informed of the decision and of the continued uncertainty tied to pending court rulings.
What's next: Murray said oral arguments in related appeals were recently held and that the county awaits the courts' decisions, which could prompt further choices about whether to accept certain federal funds or continue to use contingency reserves.
