Minutes 05-03-2022 Business Meeting

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41 Chair Price said she is in favor of#7. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Price asked the Board to discuss recommendation #1. Commissioner Hamilton thanked everyone who spoke about the issue. She said her concern about recommendation #1 is if it can be sustained. She said she wanted to know the number of people and the amount of money so the Board can determine if it's affordable. She said she wanted to know if it's sustainable. She said she thought the Board should think comprehensively about how the county supports low-income people, through either a strategic plan or a budget. She said the Board needed information to know if they are setting up something sustainable. She said it doesn't make sense to do something for one year, and then it goes away. She said she would rather be cautious and see what they get if they make changes to the communication plan and build up trust, before they do the other things proposed in recommendation #1. Commissioner Fowler said she is cautious as well, but currently this would use ARPA. She said it would be critical to figure out they were going to pay for it in the future. She said one argument to do the program is that people are still recovering from losses during the pandemic. She said hopefully there would be some recovery from the pandemic. She said she would suggest capping the total at the total county tax bill amount. She said that she thought the response would be greater than a 50% increase. She said she would decrease the amounts in slide #9 to $500, $750, and $1,000 for the first year so that the funds would not be used up in one year. She said offering $300 as a base amount is a much more cautious approach. Commissioner Richards said on c, the dollar estimate is based on 2021 recipient. She asked if that means it is based on the 91 people that applied. Nancy Freeman said it should be based on 125 applicants. Commissioner Richards said that 125 for 2022 would be $95,000. She said we are hoping we have more than 125. She asked when ARPA funds have to be used or committed. Bonnie Hammersley said they have to be used by December 31, 2024. Commissioner Richards said it looks like we would use the money all in one year. Commissioner McKee said he liked the idea of looking at the income, because the lower your income is, the more in jeopardy you are. He asked if there is a way to estimate the number of homes that fall in the various income categories. Nancy Freeman said the tax office did not have that information. Corey Root said they could come back to the Board with an estimated number. Commissioner McKee said if the county wanted to be cautious they could lower the thresholds and start at a level that is sustainable. He said that each year they could increase or expand based on demand. Commissioner Bedford said another factor is the full bill amount. She said that removes accountability for other elected boards that the county has no say over. She thinks it should be limited to the county portion of the bill. Commissioner McKee said he agreed with that. Commissioner Richards asked if they think they should do the 80% AMI. She asked how much impact would that have on the people that need the most help. Corey Root said that 30% and 60% of AMI is often used for other housing programs. She said there was considerable discussion about the 80% AMI, because the program affects homeowners. Chair Price asked if funds from the social justice fund could be used for this program. Bonnie Hammersley said that would be up to the Board.