Minutes 06-03-2021 Virtual Business meeting

Browse Search

31 Travis Myren said that is right. He said approach 2 reserves ARPA money for some of those proposed amendments from Commissioners, and other things that are not currently on the list, but may come up. He said it just suggests plans based on Department requests. Commissioner Dorosin clarified that approach 1 spends the whole amount; approach 2 spends $18.8 million; and approach 3 spends $10.3 million. Travis Myren continued reviewing Attachment 1. He said under revenue supports, there were requests for the arts program and some small business grant programs, plus tourism and hospitality recovery programs. He said there is currently$150,000 allocated in the recommended budget, but this would provide additional funding for subsequent fiscal years. Travis Myren said under the Response/Resiliency Category, there are one-time expenditures, with the exception of the multi-factor authentication security initiative. Travis Myren said under the revenue replacement category there is a unique feature of the ARPA money being used to replace lost revenue. He said the County identified areas that have lost revenue from the pandemic, including Arts Commission, the Visitors Bureau, and the Sportsplex. He said revenue replacements are only intended to break even, and just gets those funds back to zero. Travis Myren said this makes the total requests about $7 million, plus the $3.2 million that is already in the Manager's recommended budget, for a total of $10.266 million. He said depending on amendments that are adopted Tuesday night, staff can go back and relook at the plan, if the Board prioritizes other items. Commissioner McKee said he sees personnel positions being funded with one-time money. He asked if there is a plan for what happens after 2024, when all ARPA money has to be spent. He asked if there is a plan if the County does not recover as quickly as anticipated. He said he is always leery of accepting grant money for employment positions. Travis Myren said these examples are the same as a grant funded position. He said the conundrum is that in order to do the programs, the staff is needed to implement them, so program expenditures are part and parcel to having staff available to fund the program. Bonnie Hammersley said these positions were created because of COVID-19, and when hired, the employees were advised that they are attached to grant money, and are time-limited employees. She said if the need is still there when money is gone, staff will have to look at other ways to fund the positions. Commissioner McKee said his point is that residents may expect the County to continue to fund these programs years down the road. Bonnie Hammersley said it is everyone's hope that, while the programs may still be needed, it will not be at this current level. Commissioner Bedford suggested moving forward with the $3.2 million in the recommended budget, discuss amendments at the next meeting, and include any that cannot wait until September or October, include those. She said she needs more time to think about the allocation that is available between now and June 15 at the last meeting. Travis Myren said there will be other federal funds flowing through the Department of Social Services (DSS) and Housing, and an internal task force is working to insure those funds interact correctly with ARPA. He said staff does not yet know the amounts of this other funding. He said if the Board wants to follow Commissioner Bedford's suggestion he can put something together that will be a one year funding plan, with only the items that would be continuation funding for June, July, and August, plus what is in the current recommended budget. Commissioner Dorosin said he is interested in a two-year plan, but also in putting more funds in, frontloading a bit. He said more money is needed sooner, as the need has never been greater than it is now. He said he would like to push harder on high need areas, like housing.