The Little Rock housing authority must repay to the federal government $1.2 million that was spent improperly, per a directive of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A demand letter HUD issued on April 30 listed three types of debt, including $770,086 in CARES Act funding and $166,356 in Housing Choice Voucher program funding. The latter was used to help pay for part of a loan extension on behalf of the housing authority's affiliated nonprofit.
The debts must be repaid using non-federal, unrestricted net position funds, according to HUD.
The expenses previously were flagged in a Sept. 1, 2023 report from HUD's Quality Assurance Division that identified a total of nearly $30 million of "questioned" or "potentially disallowed" spending by the housing authority.
Calling the Central Arkansas Library System in the future might mean speaking to someone in a call center of sorts.
Officials are exploring the idea in order to route patrons with questions to specialists knowledgeable about everything going on at the library system instead of a branch employee who might not be able to help.
Kate Matthews, the library system's director of public service, is studying the option with the help of a small committee, according to Nate Coulter, the executive director.
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