A Prolonged Shutdown Will Hit Counties With Tight Cash Flows Hardest

A wildfire burns near power lines in Sycamore Canyon near West Mountain Drive in Montecito, California on Dec. 16, 2018.

A wildfire burns near power lines in Sycamore Canyon near West Mountain Drive in Montecito, California on Dec. 16, 2018. Mike Eliason / AP Photo via Santa Barbara County Fire Department

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

From wildfire prevention efforts to farm loans to mass transit, here are the latest potential casualties of a long-term funding hiatus.

Mitigation steps county government leaders want to see move forward to prepare for wildfire season out West are on hold due to the federal shutdown.

The Washington State Association of Counties has made prevention of catastrophic wildfires a legislative priority in 2019, Executive Director Eric Johnson told Route Fifty, but its congressional delegation can only do so much.

Federal Emergency Management Agency contracts and Forest Service personnel are currently unavailable for stewardship projects that can help prevent wildfires like thinning, the process of removing slower-growing or defective trees to allow growing room for healthy ones.

“We know fires are going to occur, but how do we ensure it’s not a catastrophic wildfire season like we’ve had?” Johnson asked.

Due to the partial shutdown, FEMA is only able to provide programs and services that directly protect life or property or that are funded under non-expiring appropriations.

Local governments largely haven’t dealt with any dramatic effects from the partial government shutdown that has seen hundreds of thousands of federal government employees across the country furloughed, officials here in Washington, D.C., said Thursday. But county leaders attending the National Council of County Association Executives conference warned that local governments dealing with tight cash flows are at greatest risk the longer the funding hiatus lasts.  

The Department of Agriculture has also been hit by furloughs in ways counties are starting to see. Loan officers have been sent home, leaving agricultural communities hanging, said Julie Ehemann, a commissioner in Shelby County, Ohio.

President Trump promised farmers $12 billion in subsidies, after starting an international trade war with China, but the checks have stopped flowing for some.

County executives are also keeping their eyes on safety net programs that help the poorest in their communities. USDA funded the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through February, but it’s become “a moving target for a lot of folks,” said Mary Ann Borgeson, a commissioner in Douglas County, Nebraska and first vice president of the National Association of Counties. The same is true of the Women, Infants, and Children program, which the federal agency has also said will be kept going through next month..

“Short term, I don’t think [the shutdown] has been significant,” Johnson said. “If we continue long term, cash flow is a real issue for certain jurisdictions that are floating dollars with the hope of getting WIC reimbursement.”

If the shutdown bleeds into construction season on major transportation projects costing $2 million or more in small, rural counties, “that’s a cash flow nightmare potentially,” Johnson said.

Ehemann, from Ohio, noted that her county’s jail houses federal prisoners and as of now, reimbursement checks aren’t coming. “We worry about other grant situations that are reimbursement grants. Where’s that money coming from? When will you get it?,” she said.

Washington has three national parks with winter recreation, and their closure is impacting businesses in gateway communities and potentially tax revenues, Johnson said.

“County government, particularly our smaller ones, we’re running a business,” he added. “And stability and certainty of what our partners deliver to us is really important.”

A Moody’s Investors Service report this week also flagged potential issues for transit systems, particularly with their credit ratings.  Transit systems have weathered previous shutdowns with internal liquidity, external lines of credit and accelerated borrowing for capital, but a record-length shutdown would be a credit negative, the report said.

Federal grants provide up to 20 percent of operating revenues and the majority of capital funding for some systems, while the New Jersey Transit Corporation is among those with outstanding bonds repaid by federal grant reimbursements.

“With nearly 90 percent of Federal Transit Administration staff furloughed and most of its programs closed, U.S. mass transit systems have temporarily lost financial aid that supports a wide range of needs, from daily maintenance and service to ongoing repair and expansion projects,” report stated.

But many systems receive a large portion of their operating aid in the early spring, so the shutdown has not delayed that yet.

Affordable housing advocates have also noted potential problems for tenants dependent on federally-financed vouchers, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development acknowledging more than 1,000 contracts with landlords have expired. In a letter this week, the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding urged a resolution of the shutdown, saying it leaves people who depend on housing vouchers vulnerable to eviction.

“It’s funny, you don’t hear about city governments, or state governments or county governments shutting down; we’re there 24 hours a day,” said Greg Cox, a supervisor in San Diego County, California and NACo president. “So it’s kind of an interesting approach to government.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.