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County staff to ask commissioners to convert remaining ARPA balance into revenue replacement and authorize $10M
Summary
County staff will ask the Sedgwick County Commission to authorize $10 million in revenue replacement from unspent ARPA funds and to delegate limited authority to the county manager to approve the remaining year-end balance, a step officials say reduces exposure to federal clawbacks.
Lindsay, a county staff member overseeing federal funds, told the commission the county plans to move remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) balances into revenue replacement and will ask the board next Wednesday to authorize $10,000,000 immediately.
Lindsay said the commission would be asked to delegate authority to the county manager to approve the final remaining balance after year-end payroll and journal entries are complete, with a cap written into the resolution. "The request is going to be that you authorize $10,000,000 next Wednesday to be done immediately," she said, adding that the resolution would let the manager finish the final transfers and that staff would report the precise figure within one business day once journal entries are complete.
In explaining the rationale, Lindsay said staff want to avoid future guidance changes or potential federal 'clawbacks' by moving the work into revenue replacement now. She noted the unspent ARPA balance was about $17,000,000 and identified three categories the county had originally planned to pay with ARPA: the building lease, a sheriff's jail lock-and-camera CIP project (about $5,800,000 remaining), and two district-court contracts for indigent-defense and family-law services. Under the staff proposal, those obligations would be covered through revenue replacement and normal general-fund budgeting going forward.
The board asked whether the approach creates taxpayer liability. Lindsay responded, "No. In fact, it actually reduces potential liability to taxpayers," and reiterated that the drafted resolution limits the manager's authority (a stated cap of $10,400,000 appears in the draft) and that the detailed request and supporting slides will be provided at next week's briefing.
No formal vote occurred at the agenda review; the request will appear on the commission agenda for next Wednesday for formal consideration.
