by Kate Shunney

The office of West Virginia State Auditor Mark Hunt has returned an audit of Morgan County’s use of COVID recovery funds, finding county officials complied with the federal rules for spending and tracking $3.47 million between May of 2023 and December 31, 2025.

At the end of March, Hunt’s office reported the results of their examination to the Morgan County Commission.

Auditors prepared a Report on Compliance for the U.S. Department of Treasury Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program Requirements for Morgan County.

“In our opinion, Morgan County complied, in all material respects, with the specified requirements referenced above during the year ended June 30, 2025,” the report said.

Auditors found no deficiencies in how the county chose to allocate the funds, commonly known as ARPA funds.

In response to a request from The Morgan Messenger for documents provided to the State Auditor’s Office, County Commissioners provided a spreadsheet entitled “ARPA Funds Obligated” on which they tracked the expenditure of federal dollars. Between 2023 and the end of 2025, commissioners publicly discussed and voted on the various uses of the money as eligible expenditures came up.

The law authorizing the distribution of ARPA funds to local and state agencies said the money was to be used to respond to public health issues or negative impacts of the pandemic, augment pay for essential workers who kept working during COVID shutdowns, to invest in water or sewer or broadband infrastructure, to bolster disaster relief, to support transportation and to fund block grants for communities.

Morgan County used the vast majority of its federal relief funds to improve public safety resources in the county, to support an expansion of public water and sewer services, to upgrade the county’s voting machines and to buy the former Rankin’s Fitness Center to create the Morgan County Wellness Center.

In many cases, county officials voted to use the ARPA money as matches to grants, leveraging the funds to bring in more state and federal funding for county projects.

According to the county’s records, federal ARPA funds were spent this way:

Public Safety

• Police F-150 ($40,432)
• Text to 911 services for 911 Center ($34,225)
• Three Ford Interceptor police vehicles ($135,174)
• AED machine & cabinet ($2,082)
• New 911 communication radios from Motorola ($91,870)
• Push bumpers and guards for police vehicles ($7,697)
• Installation of equipment in police cruisers ($3,787)
• Paging equipment for county emergency agencies and Cacapon tower ($384,030)
• Fire truck ladder testing for volunteer fire company ($1,590)
• Police body cameras and software ($26,096)
• Ford Interceptor police vehicle ($58,263)
• Recording software for 911 Center ($18,990)
• Replace fire pump controller at The Pines ($18,489)
• Office of Emergency Services building, excavation work ($6,200)
• Office of Emergency Services pole building, site and concrete work ($241,922)
• Emergency Response Trailer and supplies ($10,775)
• Ventilators for ambulances ($157,635)
• Ford Interceptor police vehicle ($61,261)
• Hose testing for volunteer fire companies ($12,517)
• Ladder testing for volunteer fire companies ($1,590)
• Radios for public distribution at Emergency Preparedness event ($1,000)
• Air pack testing for volunteer fire companies ($5,181)
• Tower repairs on Purslane Mountain ($35,225)
• Bucket truck ($4,900)
• Cellbrite software and training for law enforcement ($21,369)

Infrastructure

• Preliminary Engineering Report from Thrasher for sewer and water line extensions ($46,000)
• Engineering services for water/sewer extension ($210,000)
• Engineering services for Town of Bath for water extension ($16,999)

Public Transportation

• Transportation on Demand/Senior Center ($11,324)

Election Security

• New county voting machines from Elections Systems & Software ($214,912)

Wellness/Recreation

• Preliminary engineering report for Wellness Center ($25,000)
• Appraisal for Wellness Center ($4,000)
• Financial feasibility test for Wellness Center ($35,500)
• Preliminary design work for 16-acre recreation parcel near ballfields ($10,000)
• Bond for Wellness Center ($1,000)
• Down payment on Wellness Center ($1,500,000)
• Fitness equipment for Wellness Center ($16,320).

County officials have been preparing for a return to a fiscal year budget without ARPA funds, noting that they were able to accomplish upgrades with the federal dollars that would not have been possible with just local tax revenue.