FILE: Krista Steenbergen, an advisor to Barren County government regarding American Rescue Plan Act funding, looks onward at an earlier meeting of the Barren Fiscal Court.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
BY BRENNAN D. CRAIN, WCLU News
GLASGOW — About 955 requests for healthcare premium pay were submitted to the county government over the last two months.
The Barren Fiscal Court voted to allocate $2 million toward the Barren County healthcare sector.after it received funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Half of that funding was earmarked for premium pay to incentivize those who worked during the height of the pandemic.
Those initial $929.37 payments went out to 1,043 people in early 2022. Magistrates revisited the matter in July 2022 after several local healthcare employees said they hadn’t received any premium pay. The deadline to submit applications for healthcare premium pay closed Oct. 11.
“There’s still a whole lot of questions to be answered,” said Magistrate Trent Riddle, the chairperson of the county’s ARPA Committee.
Krista Steenberrgen, an employee with the Swagger Institute, was retained about a year ago to advise the county regarding the ARPA disbursals. Her contract was renewed through February at the Oct. 18 meeting of the fiscal court.
Riddle said Steenbergen was still reviewing applications. Each of them must be verified, she said.
“I’m playing phone-tag with some of the providers, just to verify that everybody who said they qualify, really qualify,” she said.
Details are expected to be finalized by the next fiscal court meeting, which is Nov. 15.
