Washington Township has $370,000 in covid relief money it's afraid to spend because federal rules keep changing

Rich Hill tried to end his time as Washington Township supervisor with a bang, but federal regulations defused his plan.

Hill, who did not run for reelection, attended his final supervisors meeting Thursday. As a final act at the meeting’s end, he moved to allocate federal covid-19 assistance funds to four emergency services organizations.

The money from the federal American Rescue Plan — just under $370,000 — has been languishing in an account since it was received by the township in July.

“Because the federal government keeps changing the regulations, that money has just been sitting there,” Hill said.

He said the money — half of the township’s promised $740,000 grant — is supposed to be for relief to municipalities for financial losses because of the covid-19 pandemic.

The township fire company alone has suffered a loss of about $150,000 because the pandemic scuttled its fundraising activities, he said.

Hill offered a motion to allocate $120,000 to the fire company and $25,000 each to the township ambulance service and Murrysville Medic One, which provides ambulance service to the township.

Another $76,000 was what he proposed for the police department to rejuvenate its Beigley trust fund. The fund was started through a $100,000 bequest from a deceased township resident to the police department, according to Hill. He said the money has been spent by police Chief Scott Slagle through the years to purchase equipment or other items for the police department as needed. The fund’s balance is $24,000.

Injecting $76,000 in covid money into that fund would bring it back to its original amount, Hill said.

“Those things have already been discussed, but the rules have changed three times since we received (the money),” Supervisors Chairman Rich Gardner said.

“As well thought out as all that is, there are restrictions on that money,” Supervisor Joseph Olszewski said.

“The Treasury Department now says the organizations have to show what their losses are before we can distribute that money,” solicitor Wes Long said.

Long said other municipalities also are wrestling with the regulations, especially since they’ve received only half of the funds they’ve been allocated. The second half is scheduled to arrive in July.

Long said nobody is using the money because they don’t want to make a mistake that could jeopardize the allocation.

He said supervisors could possibly approve a measure making those allocations contingent upon the four organizations being shown to be eligible recipients and that they can document losses from covid-19.

The supervisors were ready to move forward in that manner but decided to delay action after further discussion with Long.

“I think the safe thing to do is not pass the motion and then vote on it when the regulations become clear,” the solicitor said.