From the Director’s Desk

County Lines

County Lines [(ISSN 2576-1137 (print) and ISSN 2576-1145 (online)] is the official publication of the AAC. It is published quarterly. For advertising inquiries, subscriptions or other information, please contact Christy L. Smith at 501.372.7550.

Executive Director/Publisher Chris Villines Communications Director/ Managing Editor Christy L. Smith Communications Coordinator/ Editor Holland Doran

AAC Executive Board:

Debbie Wise – President

Brandon Ellison – Vice President

Jimmy Hart – Secretary-Treasurer Tommy Young Terri Harrison Debra Buckner Dana Baker Kevin Cleghorn Terry McNatt Debbie Cross Brenda DeShields Ellen Foote Doug Curtis Gerone Hobbs Marty Boyd John Montgomery Heather Stevens Randy Higgins

National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations Debbie Wise: NACo board member. She is

Randolph County Circuit Clerk and president of the AAC Board of Directors. Brandon Ellison: NACo board member. He is

Polk County Judge and vice-president of the

AAC Board of Directors. Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. He is a member of the Jefferson County Quorum Court. David Hudson: Chair of Justice and Public Safety

Steering Committee. He is Sebastian Co. Judge and member of Rural Action Caucus Steering

Committee and IT Standing Committee. Barry Hyde: Justice and Public Safety Steering

Committee. He is the Pulaski County Judge. Rusty McMillon: Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is Greene County Judge Joseph Wood: Community, Economic and

Workforce Development Steering Committee. He is Washington County Judge. Kevin Smith: IT Standing Committee. He is the

Sebastian County Director of Information

Technology Services. Gerone Hobbs: Membership Committee. He is the Pulaski County Coroner. Paul Ellliot: Justice and Public Safety Steering

Committee, vice-chair of law enforcement subcommittee. He is a member of the Pulaski

County Quorum Court. Ellen Foote: Community, Economic & Workforce Development Steering Committee. She is the Crittenden County Tax Collector. Tawanna Brown: Telecommunications & Technology Steering Committe. She is Crittenden

County Chief Computer Operator.

American Rescue Plan funding and its uses are hot topic

As the Summer of 2021 draws to a close, our collective rear-view mirrors have a split screen. When we rolled through spring some folks — Chris Villines smart folks — were beginning to discuss the AAC possibility of resuming normal activities this fall and being Executive Director completely back to normal by say, October. The last half of summer, however, did not comply.

Planned and obvious choices of travel and conferences blurred a bit, but I am so happy that we were able to have our annual conference this year in Benton County and very happy to have reconnected with so many of you in August. Full coverage of the conference can be found in the magazine.

As we enter the fall, many of you have received a vaccine, and you are comfortable with face-to-face gatherings. Most of the AAC policy team will be out and about to see you as your associations reconvene. This is a great place to remind you that Lindsey French likely will not be there — but for a great reason. Join me in congratulating she and Nick on the arrival of Laney Blake into the French home!

When we do get out and about, I’m sure the most discussed issue at our association meetings will be the one that is consuming a lot of time here at the Association. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) is undoubtedly the most complex issue I’ve dealt with that has a federal – county nexus. Our ARP team is working diligently to peel back the layers of ARP money and offer sound advice. This team is made up of myself, Eddie Jones, Mark Whitmore, Josh Curtis and Christy Smith.

And, as a part of our team we are thrilled to have one of the best federal experts around working with us in the form of Lindsey Holman. An Arkansas native, she has worked in Washington, D.C., for the National Association of Counties and others, and her experience has been a blessing to our team and all of you. Many of you have her on speed dial already and have asked her volumes of questions.

The bottom line is the federal government has launched an extremely complex program and is defining it as it goes along, or as Lindsey Holman would say, “they are flying an airplane while building it.” Until final rules are in place on how the money can be spent, most localities are hesitant to spend much. The dangers of clawback rest solely in the laps of the government (NOT the sub-recipient) that misspends, so most are moving forward with a great degree of trepidation.

That said, in this game there are a few layups, a phrase coined by Mark Whitmore for those investments that are less risky and broadly defined by the U.S. Department of Treasury. First and foremost, every county has just been guaranteed a growth rate of 4.1 percent when calculating revenue losses for 2021, 2022 and 2023. Using the Treasury formula for revenue loss calculation (and our judges and treasurers have been well educated on this thanks to helpful folks like Debbie Cross, Greene County Treasurer) many of our counties have growth rates of less than the 4.1 percent for 2021. This means that you can utilize ARP funding to make up the difference between the actual growth rate and the 4.1 percent put forth under ARP. Revenue losses found for each year, 2021- >>>

2023, can be used for very flexible “revenue replacement” eligible use category per Treasury’s policy. Revenue replacement dollars can be spent on general government purposes such as road projects; school or educational services; and the provision of police, fire, and other public safety services.

The spending of this money has strings attached, but we encourage all counties to look closely at this “layup” as one of your better options.

Secondly, some counties are utilizing the premium pay provision of ARP. I prefer the phraseology of “hazard pay” as this money is to be utilized to pay a premium to those employees who were in harm’s way during the pandemic. Any county employee who had to show up in person and were around others is eligible. They didn’t have to be public facing. If they were in an office with others and not working from home, they are eligible to be compensated through this mechanism.

The details of these two “layups” won’t fit in this column, but I encourage every county to begin by looking at these two options.

For those counties that do utilize the premium pay model, I encourage you to have employees contact Fran Walker at Nationwide (or whoever your particular 457(b)(3) provider is) to begin setting aside some of this earned income. As you know from watching the news, we may be seeing rapidly rising inflation on the horizon. In the career span of those working today, there may have never been a more important time to set aside income, and the premium pay mechanism may be the perfect segue into doing just this.

If you have questions about the American Rescue Plan, I’d like to encourage you to reach out to our team, we stand ready to help out. You can reach us by emailing arp@arcounties.org or by calling any of us here at the office. Thank you all for your service, we appreciate all you’ve done over the past year and a half. Local government truly is the best level of government.

Chris Villines AAC Executive Director

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