Illinois communities spending COVID relief funds amid threat of federal claw back

[June 01, 2023]  By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Communities around Illinois continue to forge ahead with spending federal COVID-19 relief tax dollars as rumblings from Washington hint at a possible claw back of funds.

Local leaders are concerned that budget negotiations to raise the country’s debt ceiling could mean Congress would claw back some unused American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The University of Illinois-Extension held a roundtable discussion Wednesday to find out how some communities are spending ARPA dollars, and the topic of a possible claw back came up.

Jackson County Broadband coordinator Brian Chapman said a federal claw back of COVID funding would be devastating.

“Am I concerned about it, yes, especially for broadband, but at the end of the day, I think that our elected officials in Washington understand how important this is to get broadband out to everyone,” Chapman said.

Officials have denied that funds already distributed would be taken back, but money sitting in the U.S. Treasury Department that hasn't been doled out yet could be recalled.

Chapman said they spent $5 million of ARPA funding to upgrade broadband, which he thinks is essential in attracting new residents.

“It is weekly that I have real estate agents calling me wanting to know when they are going to get broadband to this particular home or this particular farm because they have a buyer, but the buyer is not interested because there is no high speed internet,” Chapman said.

Illinois state government received $8.1 billion from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund as part of ARPA. Some governors have gone on record saying any kind of federal claw back would wreak havoc with state budgets.

Last September, the state of Illinois announced that more than 1,200 small cities, towns and villages across Illinois would receive $371 million as part of the second round of funding through the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Michael Buehler, chairman of the McHenry County Board, said in anticipation of a claw back, the board took action.

“We had already started looking at some of the programs that we funded that maybe were under performing, and making sure we got those allocated by 2024 so we don’t give any funds back,” Buehler said.

Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.