Tarrant County dealing with $7 million budget deficit over COVID-19 vaccine partnership
FORT WORTH, Texas - Tarrant County was denied reimbursement for a $7 million partnership to administer COVID-19 vaccines.
This wasn't a case of risky business. It was the county partnering with the highly reputable UNT Health Science Center to speed up vaccinations.
The belief at the time was FEMA would cover costs for Tarrant County's efforts to administer COVID-19 vaccines, but it did not turn out that way.
"We’ve been working with FEMA to try to get reimbursement for all, or a part, or a dollar, and that has not been successful," said Tarrant County Budget and Risk Management Department Director Helen Giese.
The Tarrant County Commission took action to soften the blow of a $7 million budget deficit in wake of its own blunder.
"We need to move money to that grant to close it out," Giese added.
FEMA has refused to reimburse the county for its 2021 vaccine clinic partnership with UNT Health Science Center.
The reason is technicalities, as the county did not hold a competitive bidding process. Also, UNT did not conduct a bidding process to select its subcontractors.
"They are in agreement that they do not believe they will be reimbursing us for any part of this grant, so it is sitting on our books. The expenses have gone out the door. We have paid UNT Health Science, who has contracted with other vendors, but what hasn’t happened is finalization of closing the grant," Giese said.
The county’s solution to the shortfall involved shuffling existing CARES Act money to cover legitimate identified expenditures, then moving money from what it calls an "undesignated fund" to cover the budget gap.
The effect on taxpayers from the "money shuffling" is not immediately clear, though some in the community worry about the reallocation.
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Children 18 and under can get the shots they need for $8 each.
"This is what FEMA was looking at, not only were they not doing it right, they didn’t get it to the folk who needed help the most," Reverend Kyev Tatum said.
Tatum believes the partnership itself missed its mark, especially for communities of color.
The collaboration ended with a dismal rate of accomplishment.
Tatum points out that barely 10% of projections were met, with 23,000 people receiving shots, instead of 240,000 who were targeted. In particular, homebound and those in underprivileged communities.
"Had they done it right, there would be funds in place now to help these communities while there’s a surge of this virus going on," Tatum said. "Which means those same communities that suffered during the pandemic are going to be the same ones to suffer in the recovery."
The county maintains the cost covering for the partnership has very little negative impact on its taxpayers.