Hardship checks uncashed, unclaimed or unresolved

WINDOW ROCK

On Dec. 7, Acting Controller Elizabeth Begay reported to the Budget and Finance Committee that thousands of CARES Act Hardship Assistance applicants have not received their payments, which if not resolved by Dec. 31 could revert back to the U.S. Treasury.

This includes approximately 7,500 checks totaling $8.2 million that have not been cashed or are otherwise unclaimed and at least $17.6 million in payments “pending” that include over 10,000 hardship applications with unresolved CIB issues or no contact information.

“Unclaimed checks may be due to a change or error with a mailing address, an incomplete application, or other issues,” President Jonathan Nez said in a Dec. 13 press release. “We strongly urge our people who applied, but have not received a relief check, to contact the Office of the Controller by December 23rd.”

In accordance with federal requirements, all CARES Act dollars must be spent or obligated by the end of this calendar year.

If the 7,500 checks remain uncashed those funds will be deemed unspent and will revert to the U.S. Treasury on Dec. 31 unless they are reallocated to another program by the Navajo Nation Council.
“There’s over $7,500 outstanding checks in the amount of $8.2 million?” said B&F Vice Chairman Raymond Smith Jr. “That’s a big amount of money!”

Smith pointed out that in order to reallocate those funds to another project or service, legislation would have to be written, dropped and passed by the Navajo Nation Council, which takes time, including a special session.

“I don’t know if we can expedite that as soon as possible,” he said. “Those are the concerns I see.”

Pending check runs

Controller Begay shared that out of the $361.9 million total available budget approved by the Navajo Nation Council for CARES Act Hardship Assistance (Phase I and II), a total of $346.9 million in payments have been provided to approximately 312,010 tribal members, which includes 85,253 minors and 226,757 adults.

The remaining available balance in the fund currently is $14.9 million, she said.

Begay explained that the $17.6 million in “checks pending” include:

• A group of 453 babies born after Oct. 1, 2020, who were never issued CIBs by the Office of Vital Records.
• 5,356 applications with unresolved CIB problems, including CIBs not found in the Vital Records database, CIBs that had been used on prior hardship payments, or duplicate CIBs used by another person with the same first or last name, totaling $5.7 million.
• 1,185 applicants with no CIB copy attached to their application, totaling $1.3 million.
• 3,610 applicants on the waitlist who are unreachable because there is “no contact info.”
• 5,942 hardship recipients whose checks were being processed and sent out last week, totaling $6.4 million.
• 2,756 hardship applications that controller’s office workers are still processing, totaling $4.1 million.

She said that the final totals may change based on outstanding checks that may still clear, resolved CIB issues, completed applications, and pending reconciliation of the CARES Act Hardship Fund general ledger, which has to be closed out by Jan. 22, 2022.

If all of the “check pending” issues were resolved and payments made, there would be an estimated $2.7 million deficit in the CARES Act Fund, she said.

‘What’s the plan?’

However, with 15 days left in 2021, it appears unlikely that Office of Vital Records Office will be able to resolve all of the CIB issues before Dec. 31.

Several B&F Committee members expressed concern over the number of unresolved applications and the small window of time left before the deadline.

While Begay said her office is working closely with Vital Records to work through the problems, she added that the office is behind schedule because they are short-staffed.

“What is the plan?” asked Delegate Elmer Begay. “Should they hire more CIB workers to help with reconciling CIBs? How can leaders and chapters help?”

Delegate Amber Crotty said that delegates have not received a report containing the 3,000 plus applicants with no contact info.

“As a delegate I haven’t been provided any information from the Office of the Controller as to how I can assist to help contact these individuals,” she said.

Crotty also told Begay some of her constituents have tried to call the CARES Hardship helpline with no avail.

“They say when I call no one answers and I can’t leave a message and there’s no place to send an email, said Crotty.

“There are still CIBs that still need to be established and that is the Navajo Nation government’s responsibility,” she said. “We have to find a way to assist those citizens who are waiting on the government to take action.”

Begay committed to giving B&F the list of applicants with no contact information so that delegates could help reach constituents in their districts.

“We really need to assist them with the Hardship,” said Begay. “We want to spend this and not revert this back to the U.S. Treasury.”

Smith said Vital Records needs to expedite the CIBs for the 453 babies, so that parents can get the help they need.

“It’s very expensive if you have an infant at this time,” he said. “I don’t know if they’ll be taken care of because it’s already Dec. 7. We’ve got less than two weeks to address this situation so time is of the essence.”

Begay confirmed that if Vital Records cannot issue the 453 babies’ CIBs, they will not be able to be assisted.

“Could the Budget and Finance Committee write a letter to them and say hurry up and get these babies registered so that we can help them out?” asked Smith. “If they’re born to Navajo families, they’re eligible. It’s just a matter of getting the CIB numbers out.”

Begay said she recognizes Vital Records needs help.

“If the B&F Committee can produce a directive to Vital Records to issue CIB for the 453 babies, then maybe can make that a priority so we can assist the parents,” she said.

Reallocating unspent funds

Begay also recommended that any unspent monies budgeted for Hardship CARES Act fund be reallocated to Division of Economic Development CARES Act small business assistance program before the expiration date.

However, Crotty reminded Begay that there were other ideas that had been presented for options for what to do with any surplus funds left over.

“What I’m looking for is action when the committee provides some type of guidance, Ms. Begay,” said Crotty. “I asked if funding to be used to support Hataalii’s who were providing services during COVID? The Council did approve the Hataalii assistance program, but that was never fully developed by the executive.”

Begay acknowledged that many other good suggestions had been regarding unexpended CARES Act Hardship funds, including student scholarships, special duty pay for Navajo Nation employees, funds for health-care providers, and elders, but distributing the funds requires an application process and they are running out of time.

With small business grants, she said, unfulfilled applications are already in place from last year so the funds can be easily and quickly dispersed.

Begay said, regardless, any reallocation of funds needs to be initiated by Council.

“We need to introduce emergency legislation because it involves reallocation,” said Begay. “All these recommendations must be included …”

On Tuesday, Delegate Eugene Tso confirm to the Navajo Times that he will be dropping legislation for any remaining CARES Act Hardship assistance funds to elders who applied for assistance in the proposed amount of an additional $400 per person.

In the meantime, the president’s office is advising enrolled Navajos who applied for CARES Act Hardship Assistance and have not received a check, or have received a check and have not deposited or cashed it before it expired, to contact: rthompson@hardship.nnooc.org or wjames@hardship.nnooc.org or 928-871-6955, 928-871-6271, 928-871-6073 by 5 p.m. (MST) on Thursday, Dec. 23.

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