County Commission Approves Contract For Second Round Of Rental Assistance Program

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County Commission voted 2-1 Wednesday to contract with Horne LLP to administer the second round of the county's Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

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District 4 Commissioner Reginald Murray was the lone vote against the contract, while District 2's Jerry Tingle recused himself from the vote.

The new contract for administration, which also includes operations of the online application portal, will now see an additional $6.6 million doled out by Horne to those in need in Tuscaloosa County.

The second round of federal aid funding is made possible by $21.55 billion under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021.

Assistant County Administrator David Howell informed Commissioners Wednesday that roughly $10 million in benefits had been paid out to Tuscaloosa County residents since the program began last year, with $5.16 million coming from the county's allotment of the funds, while $4.9 million has come from the state's version of the program.

At present, Howell also said the county has roughly $800,000 left to distribute from the first round of aid funds.

In the debate for how the county will proceed before contracting with Horne, Howell explained that while an RFP was also received from Community Service Programs of West Alabama (CSP), the administrative costs were substantially higher than if the county contracted solely with Horne.

"My recommendation is we give it all to Horne for administration," Howell said. "That was the will of the review community that met back in January."

District 1 Commissioner Stan Acker also pointed out excessive administrative fees requested by CSP as being the rationale for not supporting a contract with the nonprofit for the second round of funding. This came after Murray made a failed motion to include CSP in the contract.

"I don’t see how we can pay an additional $67,000 out of pocket," Acker said of the additional administrative fees requested by CSP.

A look at payouts as of March 25

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