The Richmond County Health Department says it has spent $338,204.09 on the city’s COVID-19 vaccination program, but Augusta City Administrator Odie Donald told commissioners Nov. 16 costs to date have been $253,235.90.
The discrepancy seems to be that the city figures don’t include $84,968.19. Neither the city nor the health department has offered an explanation for the discrepancy despite repeated requests for help in contextualizing the discrepancy.
Ledger from Health Dept showing $338,000 in program expenses. 
Slide from Odie Donald presentation to County showing $253,000 of program expenses.
Another seeming accounting problem with the vaccination program funding is that the health department has included $18,952.98 in indirect costs in what it has spent. Indirect costs are used to cover the cost of doing business and typically can be used to cover expenses such as rent, utilities and personnel.
“(I)ndirect costs are expenses incurred for common or joint objectives and therefore cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular project or activity,” according to a letter from Denise Sellars, the district administrator for the Georgia Department of Health.
The letter continues, “(A) governmental entity calculates an indirect cost rate by estimating the costs of items that are shared across programs and activities. Funds spent in each program and activity pay a portion (their share) of the estimated indirect costs at an amount equal to the indirect cost rate x eligible expenses of the program.”
SEE ALL DOCS RELATED TO VAXUP PROGRAM HERE.
The health department takes 5.7 percent off the top of grants to cover indirect costs including human resources services, accounting, salaries and information technology, according to Sellars.
The indirect costs may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the $1.5 million total set aside for the county vaccination program, it may be a misspent drop that will have to be repaid.
Rules regarding the use of COVID-19 relief funds by the federal government are not ambiguous on the matter of indirect costs. On page 4186 of the Federal Register of Jan. 15, 2021, Vol. 86, Section 10, the rules for spending relief funds state: “Payments from the Fund are not administered as part of a traditional grant program and the provisions of the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR part 200, that are applicable to indirect costs do not apply. Recipients may not apply their indirect costs rates to payments received from the Fund.”
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On page 4,193 of the Federal Register, the rules state that funds not used in accordance with the CARES ACT or any unused funds must be repaid to the Federal government.
“Section 601(f)(2) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001(a) of the CARES Act, provides for recoupment by the Department of the Treasury of amounts received from the Fund that have not been used in a manner consistent with section 601(d) of the Social Security Act. If a government has not used funds it has received to cover costs that were incurred by December 31, 2021, as required by the statute, those funds must be returned to the Department of the Treasury.”
MORE: Augusta Vaccination Incentive Program Out Of Control
This means that the county government may have to repay the indirect costs as well as the cost of any unused incentive gift cards. The Augusta Commission authorized $100 incentives for those who get vaccinated in the VaxUp!Augusta program. They purchased 3,300 gifts cards that have been activated, meaning that they cannot be converted back into cash.
At the Nov. 16 Augusta Commission meeting, Dr. Lee Merchen, district health director for the East Central Health District 6, did not clarify the indirect cost issue, but she did address the cost of shipping the gift cards, reported earlier as $91,775.
The earlier reports stated that the $91,775 figure was an obvious typo or mistake by the RCDH. Health department officials did not respond, however, to repeated phone and email attempts to clarify whether the mistake was a typo or some other type of error. Merchen blamed the inaccuracy on “the press.”
“We have an accountant who has been such a good steward of the funds that we have taken it down to the half penny, so the reporter misinterpreted a decimal for a comma. It was actually $91.77 and a half penny,” Merchen told the commission.
Merchen did not disclose that the shipping was one of only two entries in the entire health department ledger that rounded up to the “half penny,” or what is commonly referred to as a mil or a fraction of a penny.
Mils are not commonly used in government accounting, according to accountant and former Augusta Commissioner Jerry Brigham, who served as the Finance Committee chairman while in office. In fact, mostly, the only time people see a price in mils is at the gas station where the cost is advertised, for example, as $2.99(9).
District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom stopped Merchen in the middle of her explanation to accuse “the press” of willingly misleading the public.
“We need to push back, because they are obviously spreading misinformation,” Frantom said. “We need to control the flow of information.”
MORE: Vax Up Augusta! Program Lacks Accountability
Merchen promised Frantom that she was working on an op-ed for publication.
In her rebuttal, Merchen told the Augusta Commission that her office had responded to every request for information. Her office has provided paper documentation, but its staff is requiring any questions about those documents to be submitted by email. Submitted emails have gone ignored.
In his report about the progress of the VaxUp! Augusta program, Donald, said that 4,583 people have been vaccinated and, by his office’s count, that 2,460 incentive gift cards have been given out.
Donald’s office has provided written documentation to show that it is not the custodian of records, meaning they would not be responsible for any discrepancies or misuse of funds. His office, however, has, since Nov. 5, not responded to seven voicemail requests and five email requests for clarification on who has oversight responsibility for the relief fund expenditures.
“No, they don’t care to respond. They aren’t liable. If the funds are misused, it will be the taxpayers that has to pay the money back,” said former Augusta Commissioner and accountant Joe Bowles.
Bowles also served as chairman of the Finance Committee while in office.
According to Bowles, his experience working in government doesn’t give him much optimism about how tax money is being used implementing the VaxUp! Augusta! program with such little accountability.
“Welcome to the new America,” Bowles said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
