Luzerne County Council members Joanna Bryn Smith and Harry Haas, in foreground, review paperwork during a break in the March 24 meeting in which an American Rescue Plan Act consultant contract was discussed. Shown in the background, from left, are Council Chairman Jimmy Sabatino, council Clerk Sharon Lawrence and Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
A proposed $918,180 contract amendment with Luzerne County’s American Rescue Plan Act consultant is now before County Council.
Council had retained Columbia, Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting as the consultant in June 2022 to ensure all auditing and other federal compliance requirements are met.
An amendment is needed to cover increased monitoring demands and keep the consultant through March 2027 to ensure the project closeout is properly executed, the administration said.
American Rescue projects must be completed by the end of this year. Interest earnings from American Rescue funds would be used to cover the additional contract costs, the administration said.
According to the county’s summary, Booth was set to receive $1.88 million, but the actual amount paid through September 2025 was $2.09 million.
In addition to this $209,620 in additional costs, the company has accrued $288,032 in bills for services from October 2025 through January 2026 that have not yet been paid, it said. The total comes to $918,180 when $420,529 in estimated costs from February 2026 through March 2027 are factored in, the summary said.
If approved, the consultant would receive $2.8 million over five years. This equates to approximately 2.5% of the county’s total $112.89 million American Rescue award.
Company head Robin Booth told council her company’s administrative fees are on the “very low end” compared to the average 10% documented for federal grants.
Booth Management is overseeing 154 internal and external county American Rescue projects, which far exceeds the original projection of 30 when the county first publicly sought proposals from prospective consultants, Booth told council in one of two work session discussions about the matter in March.
“The level of monitoring and technical assistance has far exceeded what could have been projected,” Booth said.
Sixty of the awards involve capital projects with added procurement requirements and potentially hundreds of pages of supporting documentation for reimbursement that must be reviewed, she said.
Booth also noted 66% of the outside recipients had never received federal awards before, which meant her company had to provide more training and support because they were unfamiliar with regulations. As a result of the experience, some of these local entities are now motivated to seek other federal awards that may bring more funding to this area, she said.
The workload also was more intense because County Council made the “commendable decision” to earmark approximately $60 million of its receipts to outside entities, largely for community and local government projects, Booth said, adding that many other jurisdictions throughout the country opted to keep their funding in-house.
Through its monitoring and review, Booth flagged $500,000 in “fraudulent” costs and prevented $3 million in reimbursements for items that did not meet regulatory requirements, she said.
Councilwoman Denise Williams asked for more specifics on the $500,000 in fraudulent costs.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo said an update will be provided to council in a closed-door executive session because some are in litigation.
Williams asked for the number of fraudulent recipients, and Crocamo said it was less than five.
Booth said her company has performed on-site visits to verify recipients purchased equipment that was funded and progressed in their projects as promised.
The U.S. Treasury is expected to implement an American Rescue monitoring plan in early 2027, and the extensive documentation and checks completed by her company minimize the county’s risk of noncompliance, she said.
“We’re going to the finish line, and now is not the time to increase the risk,” Booth said.
County Budget and Finance Division Head Mary Roselle told council the consultant never raised its rate, but the amount of work to meet federal compliance has increased.
Councilman John Lombardo said Booth is “worth their weight in gold” because the county lacked the resources and expertise to regulate the volume of outside awards, primarily focused on infrastructure, public assistance, and community service needs.
Council Chairman Jimmy Sabatino said he agreed with Lombardo’s assessment.
Based on the information presented, Councilwoman Joanna Bryn Smith said, “I don’t see how we don’t do this.”
Council is expected to vote on the contract amendment at its next meeting on April 14.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
