WASHINGTON, D.C. — When President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law last month, it sent $360 billion to state and local governments, including roughly $11 billion for Ohio.

But for Ohioans who live in one of the 1,300 townships in the Buckeye State, their local government isn’t slated to get any of those dollars.

“We see this as a terrible injustice and really an equal protection of the law issue,” Barry Tiffany, the Sugarcreek Township administrator, said in a virtual press conference Wednesday.

Township officials in Montgomery and Greene counties voiced their frustrations while meeting virtually with Congressman Mike Turner (R, OH-10).

They said Ohio’s townships provide the same services as cities and villages, like police and fire, as well as work on roads, parks, and more.

Without this federal aid, they said, that all could be impacted because revenue from visitors and restaurants has disappeared during the pandemic.

“The townships have seen not only a drop in revenue, but a significant request for increased services,” John Morris, of the Montgomery County Township Association, said.

“Our citizens paid the same state and federal taxes as family members that live in municipalities,” added Kristofer McClintick, the Harrison Township administrator.

This situation is confusing because Ohio townships received money from the previous coronavirus relief packages, just not this most recent one.

What seems to have happened is language was changed when the American Rescue Plan was making its way through Congress and now townships in certain states have been left out.

“What was alarming to us is that Michigan townships were included, Pennsylvania townships were included, Minnesota townships were included, but Ohio townships, Illinois townships, and North Dakota townships — and those are just three states — were not included,” Heidi Fought, the executive director of the Ohio Township Association, said during Wednesday’s press conference.

Ohio’s entire congressional delegation has asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to step in and clarify that Ohio townships are eligible.

All 13 Republicans, who voted against the American Rescue Plan, wrote a letter to her blaming this mishap on the relief bill not being “developed in a bipartisan way.”

All four Democrats wrote a separate letter to Yellen in which they applauded the package, but asked for clarity.

As of publication of this story, Yellen has not responded to the lawmakers.

Rep. Turner said even though he didn’t support the bill, getting this sorted out is important.

“Once the federal government has decided to spend money, we need to make certain that we get our fair share,” Turner said Wednesday.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said getting money directly to townships makes the most sense.

“Green Township in Cincinnati knows best, their trustees, how to spend the money in Green Township,” Brown said in a recent virtual interview. “The governor doesn’t, the president doesn’t, the senator doesn’t.”