Oh what a tangled web we weave...Part 5

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021:

The American Rescue Plan (2021) is providing fast and direct economic assistance for American workers, families, small businesses, and industries.

The American Rescue Plan continues many of the programs started by the CARES Act (2020) and Consolidated Appropriations Act (2021) by adding new phases, new allocations, and new guidance to address issues related to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Rescue Plan also creates a variety of new programs to address continuing pandemic-related crises, and fund recovery efforts as the United States begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan was passed by Congress on March 10, 2021 and signed into law on March 11, 2021.

According to the April 21, 2021 town board minutes...

Supervisor Miscione

– American Rescue Plan – We're going to get 2.39 million dollars – some has to be allocated towards the two villages that we surround. We have the guidelines.

Personnel Technician Barbara Schwenzfeier

Got a letter in the mail from Unemployment – there is a program out there because of COVID – they have given a relief - we have $39,000 credit with them;

Councilman Messa -

 the Supervisor and I have talked about this, how you can allocate some of this for water, constituent on Oxford Road – a certain portion – they don't have water – guy is looking into doing a new well and doesn't know if he should invest that, if we are going to run a waterline down – it is in a tough spot.

Supervisor Miscione -

Woods Road – there was a water issue – then housing development came in they were going to pay for it but then they lost out because the housing development didn't come in – that may be another area we can get waterlines to.

Councilman Reynolds -

– end of Merritt Place is another area;

Supervisor Miscione –

will have to reach out to the residents to see if they want it, do they have the funding and will they tap into it.

Will keep everyone updated..

Councilman Messa introduced the following Resolution for adoption and seconded by Councilman Reynolds

Anyone in town remember being asked for an opinion on the ARPA funds as Miscione said would need to happen?

At the July 14, 2021 town board minutes:

11. Authorize to participate in COVID Local Fiscal Recovery Fund – to get the COVID funds had to fill out an application and put all the information in – get anywhere from $2.3 - $2.9 million – have to give the Village $140,000/$150,000 – leaves us with $2 million in the end (get half this year and half in 2022) – printed application filled in the Town Clerk’s Office – Town Supervisor submitted online.

Councilman Messa introduced the following Resolution for adoption and seconded by Councilman Lenart:

(RESOLUTION NO. 266 OF 2021)

RESOLVED, the Town of New Hartford Town Board does hereby approve for the Town Supervisor to fill out the application for the Local ARPA Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to NEUs.

The Resolution was unanimously carried and duly ADOPTED.

Miscione said he has to give some to the village.

Why would that be, sir, NYS reports show that the Village received their own funds.

Miscione also states he submitted a copy of the application online. Did he print a copy for the town board in case they wanted to look it over?

There was no further mention of the application in town board minutes..

According to the State of New York, the Town of New Hartford received in total (over 3 periods) $1,884,302.03 (see below):

To view the report for allocations for all NYS municipalities in NYS, click here!

Was the Town Board made aware of when the money was received and how much? Nothing was found in town board minutes.

Did the town board know that along with getting the money it would require reports to be filed annually??

Does the town board know if  any reports have been filed to date??

Under NYS Town Law 64, the town board...

 1. Control of town finances. Shall have the general management and control of the finances of the town and shall designate in the manner provided by section ten of the general municipal law the depositaries in which the supervisor, town clerk, tax collector, tax receiver, and trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of a town shall deposit and secure all moneys coming into their hands by virtue of their offices.

So, while the Supervisor is the person responsible for keeping the accounting, nothing can be spent without the approval of the town board, of course, it is dependent on the Supervisor keeping the town board up-to-date.

Reporting: The.S. Treasury requires annual project and expenditure reports from NEUs, which are typically due by April 30th. For towns that received over $10 million, quarterly reporting was required.

Was the town board given that information; information that the Supervisor should have known and brought to a town board meeting??

From a report by the Association of Towns dated June 24, 2021:

Did the Supervisor keep the town board members informed of their obligations connected to receiving almost $2,000,000 from NYS???

Are any of the required reports available for viewing by the public??
Will the reports be on the next Town Board Agenda??

What should have been done is exactly what the Town of Walrath did. They created a reserve fund to make sure the money was segregated from other funds.

The Walrath town board now has full control over how and when the money is spent.

Once the fund was set up, the Town of Walrath town board, allocated a $100,000 fund to aid small busiesses/non profit organizations impacted by the PLAN-demic and invited them to apply for assistance.


What did Miscione do with the ARPA money?? Did he allocate it to different funds so that no one could even know how it was being spent??

The answer is found on page 61 of the 2022 Financial Statement conducted by Drescher & Malecki, CPA:

The money was co-mingled in the General Wholetown Fund and in 2022 $400,000 was used in the Police Department Fund in what looks to be to cover a shortfall.

Page 25 of the 2022 Audited Financial Statement also mentions the ARPA monies:

The 2022 audit also calls the ARPA money federal funding and does not specifically call it ARPA funds.

That is exactly why it is advised to set up a Reserve account.

According to town board minutes, the budget talks at the November 7, 2024 town board meeting, would appear to indicate that $400,000 might have been used in the 2025 town budget.

If the town is co-mingling the ARPA money into the General Fund and using it to supplement the annual budget, that would be against the rules set forth for the ARPA funding.

All indications are that the town is in financial trouble. The State Comptroller has not made their "official" audit publicly available and I would doubt that Miscione has any clue as to the results of the final report this soon.

We will just all have to wait and see what happens.