Howard County council approves emergency farmer grants amid concern over proof requirements

Howard County Council approved CB49, an emergency appropriation enabling the Economic Development Authority to make $5,000 grants to qualifying farmers, after members debated documentation and oversight. Councilmember Walsh said she had asked the Office of Law for an opinion and remained concerned that the program as proposed would allow recipients to receive funds without submitting receipts to prove crop loss. “Does this mean that somebody just can state that they lost $5,000 worth of crops without any proof of that loss?” she asked, warning she would scrutinize future uses of county dollars if similar proof standards were not applied.

Councilmembers discussed safeguards during the meeting. One member noted that applicants sign and submit an affidavit attesting to their loss, which the county would rely on as a legal attestation. “We are trusting them to not lie to us on an affidavit, but there is some level of documentation and… people putting their signature on an affidavit to get that money,” a councilmember said. Despite reservations about the breadth of documentation required, the council voted to approve CB49. The council also recorded an intention to monitor consistency across county grant programs and asked staff to consider uniform proof standards going forward.