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Commission delays ARPA recapture after nonprofits describe reimbursement bottleneck
Summary
After multiple subgrantees told the commission reimbursements held up in a multi-step Chamber-to-county process, commissioners voted not to recapture ARPA funds now and approved limited internal reallocations, while directing staff to accelerate reimbursements and return with updates.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission voted March 3 to pause immediate recapture of ARPA-funded subgrants after nonprofit providers described reimbursement delays that could leave organizations without the funds they had already spent.
Representatives from multiple organizations — including the Athens Area Chamber (Alvie Co), Goodwill (Jeremy Smith), Quality Care for Children (Ellen Cochran and Monique Reynolds), the Boys and Girls Club (Kirk Dominic), and smaller subcontractors — told the commission that reimbursements flow through the Chamber of Commerce, which validates claims before the county issues payment. Several speakers said paperwork and processing delays had left agencies waiting of months for reimbursement, and that proposed recapture amounts would effectively claw back money they had already expended to run programs.
Alvie Co (Chamber) explained the multi-step process: subgrantees spend funds, submit requests to the Chamber, the Chamber reviews and reimburses the subgrantee and then requests reimbursement from the county. The commission heard examples: Goodwill was awarded $242,000 under the program; a proposed recapture of $51,000 against pending reimbursements could leave them with $19,000 remaining, the Chamber representative said.
Commissioners pressed staff for the source of delays. County and staff briefings described about 90 meetings of county staff with the Chamber to help process reimbursements, staff turnover at the Chamber and at some subgrantee organizations, and the time-consuming validation steps the county must perform before issuing payment. Commissioners and the county manager asked for a faster, clearer path to process valid reimbursements and for staff to provide regular checkpoints; they also discussed moving to electronic payments rather than paper checks to speed issuance.
Faced with mounting public testimony, the commission withdrew an earlier motion to recapture and instead approved a motion to not recapture the ARPA dollars now and to allow certain limited internal reallocations (agenda items G, H and I in the staff packet) that enable program adjustments. The commission requested staff to return with a revised budget ordinance reflecting those reallocations and to report back on progress in July. Commissioner Fischer recused himself from the vote because of a familial connection to one of the recipients.
Next steps: staff will work with the Chamber and subgrantees to accelerate reimbursements, move toward electronic disbursement where possible, and return a revised ordinance for the limited reallocations and a status update at the next meeting cycle.
