Westmont receives long overdue $2.7M from U.S. Treasury
It wasn’t exactly a neatly wrapped package under the tree, but just before Christmas, Westmont College received a long-delayed gift — a $2.7 million disbursement from the U.S. Treasury that had been tied up in red tape for more than two years.
The money was overdue funding under the ERTC or Employer Retention Tax Credit, a COVID-19 program that rewarded businesses and nonprofits for retaining salaried and hourly staff during the pandemic. The back story is a tale of bipartisan cooperation between the conservative, values-based college and a Democratic Congressman who gave the Treasury an important nudge to loosen up the funds.
“It was a two-and-a-half year journey,” Westmont President Gayle Beebe said in a phone interview.
He credited U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and his staff for clearing the way for funds to be delivered before yearend.
“There are issues we disagree on. But if there was a way to advance the mission of the college, he was willing to assist us,” Beebe said.
“The No. 1 thing on my team is constituent services,” Carbajal said in a phone interview. “If you have an issue with a federal agency, we’ll go to bat for you.”
The ERTC payment was “a lot of money,” enough to make the difference between “finishing in the black” and reporting a loss, Beebe said.
Because of the 28-month delay between filing an amended tax return and delivery of the funds, Westmont borrowed the money from its $100 million endowment; the Westmont annual budget is around $98 million a year.
“To know we were awarded the money, but we couldn’t get it was kind of puzzling,” Beebe said, adding that the college was already communicating with Carbajal’s office about the student financial aid website debacle earlier in the year.
Carbajal said he wasn’t sure what finally unblocked the $2.7 million, but his team went to work after he got a call from Beebe last October. Although his office handled some 1,365 constituent cases last year, the amount of money stood out and he understood the urgency of finding a resolution. “That’s a big one,” he said, adding that he gave Beebe a heads up that the money was about to be released eight days before the funds were received.
Beebe said he first got to know Carbajal when the Congressman was serving as Santa Barbara County’s 1st District Supervisor. He said Carbajal consistently puts constituents over politics when it comes to dealing with bureaucracy.
“You know who he is and what his politics are but you always feel he has the best interest of everyone at heart,” Beebe said.
While his access to White House staff may be diminished under the Trump Administration, Carbajal said his zeal for constituent issues is undiminished. Besides, he added with the GOP holding the slimmest of majorities in the House, his vote is going to matter more than ever on budget reconciliation, the farm bill and other key issues.
For now, Carbajal is emphasizing his nonpartisan constituent outreach saying that “we’re not perfect but overwhelmingly we deliver prompt effective service.”
He’s even adapted the title of an award-winning AMC television show, to drive the message home.
“We want to remind constituents, that if you have a problem ‘You better call Salud,’” he said.
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