HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOW 2021-10-11 Item 4D - Funding - Phase II Prioritization for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) FundsCOUNCIL AGENDA SYNOPSIS
Initials
Meeting Date
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Council review
10/11/21
Vicky
ITEM INFORMATION
ITEM No.
4.D.
57
STAFF SPONSOR: VICKY CARLSEN
ORIGINAL AGENDA DATE: 10/11/ 21
AGENDA ITEM TITLE Identify and Prioritize Projects Utilizing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds
CATEGORY 11 Discussion
10/11/21
❑ Motion
Mtg Date
❑ Resolution
Mtg Date
❑ Ordinance
Mtg Date
❑ Bid Award
Mtg Date
❑ Public Hearing
Mtg Date
❑ Other
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Mtg Date
SPONSOR ❑ Council ❑ Mayor ❑ Admin
❑ P&R ❑ Police ❑ PW
Svcs ❑ DCD 11 Finance ❑ Fire
SPONSOR'S Identify and prioritize projects utilizing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that will
SUMMARY be included in the 2021-2022 mid -biennium budget amendments.
REVIEWED BY ❑ Trans&Infrastructure Svcs ❑ Community Svcs/Safety
❑ LTAC ❑ Arts Comm.
DATE: 10/11/21
/1 Finance
& Governance ❑ Planning & Community Dev.
❑ Planning Comm.
CHAIR: IDAN
❑ Parks Comm.
COMMITTEE
RECOMMENDATIONS:
SPONSOR/ADMIN.
COMMITTEE
Finance Department
Unanimous Approval; Forward to Committee of the Whole
COST IMPACT / FUND SOURCE
EXPENDITURE REQUIRED AMOUNT BUDGETED APPROPRIATION REQUIRED
$
Fund Source:
Comments:
MTG. DATE
RECORD OF COUNCIL ACTION
10/11/21
MTG. DATE
ATTACHMENTS
10/11/21
Informational Memorandum dated 9/29/21
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of Tukwila
Allan Ekberg, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Finance and Governance Committee
FROM: Vicky Carlsen, Finance Director
CC: Mayor Ekberg
DATE: June 14, 2021 September 29, 2021 (Last updated following 9/13/21
Committee meeting)
SUBJECT: Phase 2 Funding Prioritization - Identify and prioritize projects utilizing
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds
Updated for August 23, 2021, Committee Meeting
ISSUE
Staff is seeking Committee input to identify and prioritize projects that could be paid for
using ARPA funds.
BACKGROUND
On March 22, 2021, staff began a discussion with the Finance & Governance committee
to seek input into a process for how to prioritize service level restoration if and when
ongoing revenues exceed revenues adopted in the 2021-2022 biennial budget as well as
restored revenues from sales tax mitigation payments. Included in the info memo was a
section discussing federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.
There was agreement to approach these funding discussions in three phases.
Phase 1 — Council Consensus on May 10, 2021 — utilized sales tax mitigation payments
expected to be received July 1, 2021, and was targeted to those items that would:
1. Provide the most direct impact to improving the quality of life for our
community — Streets and Parks Maintenance to keep parks clean and respond to
concerns about garbage, litter, and graffiti.
2. Revenue backed services — The Consolidated Permit Center is handling an
increased demand for permits which are supported by fees.
3. Services which have been contractually required Including agreements with the
Teamsters and IAFF Local #2088 for Fire Overtime.
4. Critical services which should be restored — This includes restoring some
necessary services, such as cybersecurity contracts in Technology Information
Services.
Phase 2 is targeted to utilize the American Rescue Plan Act funds. This discussion is
planned to begin on June 14 with additional information in this memo and continue
through July with the full Council which will provide time to receive more details from the
Federal Government.
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
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Phase 3 is targeted to use possible additional revenues as they return to pre -pandemic
levels. This phase is expected to begin in August 2021 after we see begin to see the
impacts of vaccinations on revenue sources.
Phase 2 Funding - Using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds
The earlier memo included a partial list of possible projects that could be funded with
ARPA money including:
• Upgrading equipment in the Council chambers to allow for both in-person as well
as virtual participation in city Council meetings and workshops.
• Adding internet access to neighborhoods underserved by existing internet options.
• Funding additional human services and/or small business programs and outreach.
• Funding to design and possibly purchase property for a youth/senior center.
• Economic Development Plan
• Other one-time services such as studies, plans or designs.
Federal Funding - American Rescue Plan Act
On March 10, 2021, a $1.9 trillion relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan
Act, was approved and provides funding in several areas including state and local aid,
education, rental assistance, and transit. Preliminary estimates show that the City of
Tukwila could receive as much as $4.43 million in one-time funds. Staff will confirm the
final amount once we receive official notification from the State, which is not
expected until at least July. Funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024.
Final notification has been received and the City of Tukwila will receive $5.78 million,
which is $1.35 million more than originally expected.
From what we know today, the funds can be used in the following ways:
- To respond to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its
negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses,
and non -profits, or to aid impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and
hospitality.
- Provide premium pay to eligible workers that are preforming essential work.
- Provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to
the pandemic relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year.
- Make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.
The funds cannot be used to directly or indirectly offset tax reductions or delay a tax/tax
increase. Nor can funds be deposited into any pension fund. Final guidance on approved
uses of the funds is expected to be received in July of 2021.
New information regarding uses and restrictions for ARPA funds
Additional information has been released that provides better guidance on appropriate
use of ARPA funds. The biggest change is in the Provision of Government Services to
the Extent of Reduction in Revenue category. Updated guidance indicates that funds
used under this category may only be used to restore services or projects that were
reduced or eliminated due to revenue reduction caused by COVID-19. ARPA funds may
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
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not be used for new capital projects (except for broadband, water, and sewer
improvements, projects within very specific parameters) or programs or expansion of
existing programs beyond the COVID-19 related reductions. A nexus to the effects of
COVID needs to exist in order to apply ARPA funds to the service or project. Projects
previously suggested for inclusion for ARPA funds that do not qualify are noted below in
the appropriate section of this info memo.
New information also shows that use of ARPA funds may be used to cover costs incurred
beginning March 3, 2021.
Ongoing vs One-time Revenues
As a reminder, the Council's adopted financial policies state that one-time revenue will be
used for one-time expenditures and ongoing revenue will be used for ongoing
expenditures. The projects outlined below are one-time in nature as ARPA funds are a
one-time funding source.
Because ARPA funds may not be used for new projects or services so are more restrictive
in nature, Council may need to make an exception to this policy and allow the use of
ARPA funds for adding back service levels ongoing service levels until regular revenue
sources return to pre -pandemic levels.
DISCUSSION
Information has been provided on each of the projects identified in the March 16, 2021,
info memo and includes additional projects for consideration. Based on the major federal
funding categories, the following are possible prioritization areas:
Phase 2 Funding Priorities
1. Assistance to households, businesses and respond to impacts due to COVID-19
a. Assistance to households
i. Increasing human service funding by increasing cap per household
ii. Assistance for utility payments in arrears
b. Assistance to businesses
i. Increasing grants and support for small businesses
ii. Create Economic Development Plan with a specific lens of mitigating
impacts due to COVID-19
c. Impacts due to COVID-19
i. Improve community access to Council meetings by updating Chambers
2. Provision of Government Services impacted by reduction in revenues
a. Capital Investments delayed or deferred
i. Traffic Calming Program
ii. Other Capital needs — unless a capital project was eliminated due to
COVID-19 related revenue reductions, ARPA funds may not be used on
new capital projects with the exception of broadband, water, and sewer
projects.
b. Other Service and Staffing needs
3. Investments in infrastructure
a. Broadband infrastructure investment — reduce the digital divide with a focus on
students and low-income residents
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4. One -Time Investments for long-term financial health — (City will need more information
to clarify eligibility and some might fit under other priorities)
a. Teen and Senior Center Investment — planning, design, and/or land purchase —
based on updated information, this project would not qualify for ARPA funding.
b. Digitizing Permit Records to better respond to public records requests — based on
updated information, this project would not qualify for ARPA funding.
c. Facility planning to address significant unmet needs in City facilities
Detailed Discussion
1. Assistance to households, businesses and respond to impacts due to COVID-19
a. Assistance to households
i. Increasing human service funding by increasing cap per household
1. Additional funding for rental and utility assistance is a potential
candidate for ARPA funding. Tukwila Human Services staff continue
to see a high need for rental and utility assistance. While staff is
working to leverage other funding sources where applicable, staff
believes that if additional funding were to be made available for rental
and utility assistance, such funding should go to raise the $2,400 cap
currently placed on families to assist them in wiping out extensive utility
and rent arrearages. Human Services staff have worked with many
families with rent arrearages in the thousands of dollars and is now
experiencing many calls from families who have already hit the lifetime
cap, which was raised from $700 to $2,400 to address the pandemic.
ii. Assistance for utility payments in arrears
1. Staff has reached out to utility providers in Tukwila to better understand
the utility arrearages in the community. Current estimates are between
$1 and $2 million for all utility providers in Tukwila. Human Services and
Communications staff are pushing out information on Seattle City Light
and PSE's discount programs, as well as regularly referring qualified
families to the LIHEAP program in order to reduce utility arrearages. The
City of Seattle recently voted to continue its utility no late fees/no shut
offs through the end of this calendar year, and all of the utilities staff
talked with are committed to working with customers to develop payment
plans moving forward. Payments would have to be made for utility
customers that were impacted by COVID.
b. Assistance to businesses
i. Increasing grants and support for small businesses ($200,000)
1. Staff recommends setting aside $200 thousand for possible use for small
business outreach, technical assistance, loans, and grants. Staff would
return with a specific proposal later this year as opportunities to partner
with other organizations arise.
c. Create Economic Development Plan with a specific lens of mitigating impacts due to
COVID-19 ($50,000 to $150,000)
i. Basic Plan: This work includes hiring a consultant to conduct research, analysis,
writing, graphic design, and producing a document. It would also include
standard community outreach such as an online survey, a limited phone survey,
and some public meetings. Estimated cost $50,000.
ii. Expanded Outreach: This work includes hiring multiple community-based
organizations or firms to assist with outreach to various groups based on culture,
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INFORMATIONAL MEMO
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language, age, etc. It would include tailoring those contracts to work with those
groups using relevant outreach methods, which could include surveys,
conversations, interviews, focus groups, or others. As appropriate, methods
would include interpretation, translation, childcare, and participation incentives
toward a goal of meaningful, not transactional, engagement. Estimated cost
$50,000.
iii. Improved Business Contacts Database: This purpose of this component is to
improve our business contacts database which would help with outreach on the
Plan as well as ongoing business outreach. This would include a combination
of purchasing a software tool and contacting our businesses to update and/or
collect their contact information. In the private sector the software tool would be
called a customer relationship management system (CRM) and would track a
company's interactions with their customers. In addition to purchasing software,
staff would hire a firm to fill in the gaps and expand upon our current business
license database by contacting businesses directly. Estimated start-up cost
$50,000. There would be an ongoing maintenance cost but that has not yet been
estimated.
d. Impacts due to COVID-19
i. Improve community access to Council meetings by updating Chambers
1. Upgrading Council Chambers to Accommodate In -Person and Virtual
Participation in Meetings — cost estimates ranging from $10,000-
$208,000._Detailed information on this project is included in a separate
info memo presented to the Finance and Governance Committee on
June 14, 2021.
2. Provision of Government Services impacted by reduction in revenues
a. Capital Investments delayed or deferred.
i. Traffic Calming Program ($400,000 annually)
1. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 health emergency, funding of $400
thousand had been included in the budget each year for traffic calming.
At the April 26, 2021, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
meeting, several projects were identified as priority projects. Public
Works sees more value in funding several smaller projects throughout
the community rather than a few large (costly) projects. Projects
identified include:
a. Purchase additional speed cushions and radar driver feedback
signs for future deployments. ($130 thousand)
b. Complete the widening of 53rd Ave S between 5.137th and 52nd
Ave S to restore two-way traffic. ($250 thousand)
c. Provide funding for additional traffic counting services and to the
NTCP on-call design contract. ($100 thousand)
b. Other service and staffing needs
i. Each City department has unmet staffing and resource needs due to the
reductions taken in the 2021-2022 Adopted Budget. These could be
funded through ARPA funds. As mentioned in previous memos, these
include specific areas such permit review, street and parks, fire, and police
services.
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3. Investments in infrastructure
a. Broadband infrastructure investment - reduce the digital divide with a focus on students
and low-income residents ($1 million implementation, $100,000 ongoing)
i. The digital divide in the City of Tukwila was made even more apparent by the
COVID-19 pandemic, which required both students and employees to go online
full time, but often without the broadband needed. Tukwila is one of the most
diverse cities in the nation, with over 80 languages and dialects spoken, and 41%
of the population are foreign born, and 17% living in poverty. This is much higher
than the Washington State poverty average of 10%.
1. The Tukwila School District is able to provide 20% of its families with
mobile hotspots and 23% of families receive internet access through
Comcast's Internet Essentials Program. Tukwila has been on the
forefront by providing free internet access to students by developing a
free City Wi-Fi program in multifamily neighborhoods, with the highest
concentration of students that receive free and reduced lunch. But city
leaders recognize these numbers do not add up to 100% of the families
in their schools in need of access to high-speed internet, and they are
committed to closing the gap.
By utilizing ARPA funds, Tukwila has the opportunity to construct and
deploy high speed internet to income -qualified families throughout the
city. This proposed program has the opportunity to provide all families in
Tukwila with the needed modern-day building blocks for our students and
families to thrive.
Suggested Plan for Utilizing ARPA Funds
In order to maximize the use of ARPA funds, staff is recommending using these funds to
restore service levels in Streets, Parks, and DCD as well as for a few one-time projects
that directly benefit our communities. Much of the service levels for Streets, Parks, and
DCD is for staffing and was already approved via streamlined sales tax mitigation (SST)
funding. Moving these costs to ARPA, which must have a nexus to COVID reductions,
will free up SST funding for other projects.
In addition to staffing already authorized with SST funds, this plan would unfreeze one
additional FTE in DCD, add a total of $500 thousand in funding for utility and rental
assistance, restore traffic calming funds for residential streets, and restore after school
programming.
Parks & Rec Staff - See SST Memo
Street Staff - See SST Memo
SCORE
Business Assistance
Utility/Rental Assistance
After School Program
Traffic Calming
Upgrade Council Chambers
DCD Staff - See SST Memo
Economic Development Plan
Total
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2021
128,000
162,000
150,000
200,000
500,000
84,000
400,000
200,000
187,000
150,000
2,161,000
2022
150,000
171,000
2023 2024
150,000 150,000
174,000 178,000
Total
578,000
685,000
150,000
200,000
500,000
170,000 170,000 170,000 594,000
400,000 400,000 400,000 1,600,000
200,000
240,000 240,000 240,000 907,000
150,000
1,131, 000 1,134, 000 1,138, 000 5,564,000
INFORMATIONAL MEMO
Page 7
The proposed plan leaves a little over $200 thousand unallocated to services and projects
that can be allocated to other Council priorities.
It is important to note that while the use of these funds do restore some service levels, it
does not restore all services to pre -pandemic levels. Frozen positions still remain in other
departments, including Police and TIS. Departmental budgets, in general still remain
extremely tight and do not have room to absorb unplanned, necessary expenditures.
Staff is looking for direction from the Committee on which projects additional information
is needed, if items should be removed from the above list, or added to it.
At the August 9, 2021, Committee meeting, requests for additional information were made
to staff. Some of the requests for more information included traffic calming projects, utility
and rental assistance, assistance to businesses, community connectors, and the
proposed economic development plan, among other items.
Committee Review Process June -September 2021
Since mid-June, the Finance & Governance Committee conducted detailed analysis of
this information over the course of multiple meetings, asking questions and requesting
additional presentations on programs including business assistance, rent/utility
assistance, afterschool programming, SCORE, Neighborhood Traffic Calming, and
Community Connectors. Following the September 13, 2021, discussion the Committee
agreed to forward the proposal to the Committee of the Whole for full Council discussion.
Equity
A recurring theme in committee discussions was the importance of centering equity and
for staff to more clearly explain how the City's commitment to equity is reflected in the
funding proposals. The City's Equity Policy requires that equity must serve as a core value
for all long-term City plans while recognizing the disparities that exist and how historic
and current factors have contributed. The funding proposal for ARPA includes
programming intended to address disparities and improve the quality of life for lower
income and traditionally disadvantaged community members. Examples include:
Council Chamber Upgrade: Funding technology improvements for the City Council
Chamber to allow hybrid meetings (combining remote and in-person attendance) will
benefit the community by providing more equitable access to local government. Tukwila
has seen significantly increased attendance at virtual public meetings and this should
continue as an option going forward.
Parks Staffing: The pandemic elevated the importance of outdoor recreation and
socializing, and as a result park usage has been very high throughout our community.
The additional staffing authorized in Phase 1 of service restoration was intended for park
maintenance. Providing clean, safe and accessible parks has a direct impact to quality
of life for our residents.
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Restoration of Before & After School Programming & Enrichment: The Parks &
Recreation Department's before and after school programming has been a popular
necessity for Tukwila families, with most participating for free due to family income. This
service provides families with crucial support to accommodate working parents as well as
a la carte enrichment programming in a variety of areas.
Economic Development Plan: The proposal includes an expanded outreach strategy
specifically to assist various groups based on cultural needs, including interpretation,
translation, childcare and participation incentives.
Business Assistance: Funding would go toward assisting small businesses with COVID
recovery in the form of technical aid, loans, or grants, and could leverage partnerships
with other organizations.
Utility/Rent Assistance: Additional funding for Human Services would go toward
increasing the rental and utility assistance cap per household, as well as provide
assistance for utility payments in arrears.
Community Connectors: Funding would bring back the Community Connectors program
in 2022, in a new format. Staff recently provided the Community Services & Safety
Committee an update on the newly proposed program, which focuses on civic capacity
building in historically underserved communities.
Updated Staff Proposal Reflecting 2021 and 2022 Only
The chart below shows only the current biennium and has been updated to reflect
projected timing of expenditures. Most funding allocated for utility and rental assistance
has been shifted to 2022 as well as costs associated with upgrading the Council
chambers, business assistance, and the economic development plan. Amounts reflects
for the restoration for staffing in Parks, Street, and Community Development departments
are estimates only. ARPA requires the City to fully document actuals so the actual costs
of these positions may be a bit higher or lower, depending on actual hours worked, among
other benefit costs.
In addition to the above proposals for ARPA funds, staff is also requesting authority to
hire temporary staff to track and report on ARPA spending. Over the last several months
it has become apparent that the tracking and record keeping required for these projects
to meet federal requirements is very time consuming and capacity does not exist with
current staffing levels to meet this requirement. Need for additional staffing would only
last as long as ARPA funds are actively being spent and for final close out reporting.
Staff also proposes using ARPA funds to cover the cost of increasing minimum staffing
for the Fire Department to 13. Estimated costs for minimum staffing specific to the 13th
position through the end of August is $168 thousand.
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2021 2022 Total
* Parks Staff
* Street Staff
* DCD Staff
* Rec Program (Summer Camp)
* DarkTrace - Cyber Security
After School Program
Business Assistance
Utility/Rental Assistance
Traffic Calming
Upgrade Council Chambers
SCORE
Fire Minimum Staffing
Community Connectors
ARPA Financial Analyst
80,000
167,500
125,000
50,000
25,000
84,000
10,000
100,000
10,000
150,000
225,000
160,000
335,000
300,000
100,000
25,000
170,000
190,000
500,000
400,000
208,000
300,000
25,000
160,000
240,000
502,500
425,000
150,000
50,000
254,000
200,000
500,000
500,000
218,000
150,000
525,000
25,000
160,000
Total 1,026,500 2,873,000 3,899,500
* See SST Memo dated March 16, 2021
Direction provided by City Council on use of ARPA funds for 2021 and 2022 will be
included in the upcoming budget amendments.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff is now seeking Council direction on the proposal for the use of ARPA funds which
will be incorporated into the 2021-2022 budget amendment. Funding for 2023-2024 will
be addressed and confirmed via the biennial budget development process.
Information only at this time.
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