Thread by @shayshinecastle

Moving right along. (Man I could use a break) with our financial and legislative update related to COVID. Presentation: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/Item_6A_F…

More delinquencies in sales tax filings than previous COVID months. $227K missing in payments.

But the city expects those to be paid in time, CFO Cheryl Pattelli says.

Sales/use tax is down 10% YTD through June: $6.3M
Retail sales tax, specifically, down $5.8M to YTD (11.2%)

Some big declines:
Apparel: -32.6%
Home furnishings: -29.6%
Restaurants: -34.7%
General retail: -7.9%

Really interesting slide is No. 8, which compares Boulder to surrounding cities. It shows how dependent Boulder is on outside spenders, compared to Louisville and Longmont, where general retail sales tax actually increased.

(This was through March)
And overall declines are greater in Boulder than in Longmont, Louisville, Fort Collins, Loveland and Colorado Springs.

Pattelli: Superior has actually posted an increase in sales tax, bc they have fewer restaurants and lots of big box stores.

Brockett: From the financial audit, I noticed our net worth was up "pretty substantially" at the end of 2019. Was that an accounting quirk, or did we end the year with a fair amount more $$ than we started with. Has that helped during COVID?

Pattelli: We had some capital projects. We issued bonds for the broadband network, so that was a big amount. The general fund came in $4M in excess, in part bc of sales tax funds.

But it's a mixture.

Brockett: We've been using that $$ to cushion losses this year?
Pattelli: Correct.

So glad he asked that, bc I wondered, too.

City lobbyist Carl Castillo is going to talk about federal funding, past and potential.

Boulder got / will get up to $4.75M for expenses related to COVID under the CARES Act.

It's for expenses incurred March 1 - Dec. 30: medical, public health, payroll for employees responding to COVID, expenses for compliance to COVID measures, economic support, etc.

$1.1M spent or expected to be spent so far ($1,114,189, specifically)
15% of CARES funding ($713,118) to be put in reserves

As noted in the council packet, two things being considered at the federal level
HEALS - no local $$ but extends period for CARES reimbursement
HEROES - could give $60M to Boulder

BUT....

Negotiations have broken down, as Castillo said. In notes to council, he wrote that neither was likely to pass as-is and that anything that MIGHT get through will be much smaller.

Back to what Boulder is doing with existing funding.

In part, this: boulderbeat.news/2020/08/08/bou…

(But we'll get to that in a minute)

OK, to clarify an earlier tweet, Boulder "now has" the $4.75M from CARES funding for COVID-related expenses, Castillo says.

From which the biz and resident relief will come.

Here's what the city has spent so far / anticipates spending:
Care for Homeless Populations: $45,600
Disinfection of Public Areas: $44,500
Economic Support: $200,000
Expenses to Continue City Business: $100,258
Facilitate Distance Learning: $42,400

FEMA Set Aside (25% Match): $242,532
Personal Protective Equipment & Cleaning Products: $65,459
Public Health Order Communication & Enforcement: $3,000
Public Safety Measures: $21,200
Rental Assistance: $350,000
TOTAL: $1,114,849

That's in the story, but I thought I'd pull it out for you.

And here's the list of relief spending (also in the story but I know ya'll are lazy and can't click a link):

Biz support
$700K micro-grant program for small biz
$75K Safe Boulder campaign (marketing for safe visitation / tourism)

Direct Aid
$50K BThere Ambassador program (provide masks and screening to unhoused; direct to resources)
$200K food assistance (to food distribution agencies like Harvest of Hope, Boulder Food Rescue, Community Food Share, etc.)

Direct Aid (cont'd)
$200K financial assistance (rent, utilities, transportation for older adults and families)
$100K mental health (to agencies serving low-income and under-represented groups)
$100K digital divide (to Library, BVSD, etc. to ensure internet access)

Direct Aid (cont'd)
$90K Housing Helpline (county program to direct ppl to assistance)

City projects
$18,043 Fire dept sanitation program (6 electrostatic sprayers to disinfect equipment + system to create hypochlorous acid)
$25K fencing to block informal access to Flagstaff

City projects (cont'd)
$19,200 porta potties on OSMP (4 highest visitation sites; cleaning can’t keep up with demand; long lines create risk of contact, infection)
$5K widening Chautauqua stairs (north side, Ranger Cottage to meadow; highest visitation but lowest mask use)

Hoping to hear more about the micro-grant bc there were some things that needed clarified.

From the notes: Grants will be targeted to companies with fewer than 50 employees, those owned by women or people of color ...

OR “agreement to enter into technical assistance programs, on-time tax remittance, local employment, and furthering of community sustainability goals.”

There will not be restrictions on how businesses can spend the money

"There will be a lot of screening on the front end to make sure these biz are viable but they still need the money," Castillo says. "There will be substantial flexibility in how they decide to spend the money."

Not related, but I *LOVE* when my roommate leaves on council nights and the dogs stare at me, waiting for me to take them out to pee.

Can't. Leave. My. Computer.

Castillo: These expenditures (for COVID relief) will be approved tomorrow. (Or maybe expended tomorrow; couldn't' quite hear)

Decisions on the rest of the funds could happen by Oct.-Nov. but it could be as late as December, he says.

He also says "tranches." If there's one word I would get rid of, it would be tranches. Hate it. Rhymes with haunches.

Krisin Hyser addressing a q: We're going to work with existing partners to give out this $$$. And we'll expand our outreach efforts to make sure ppl know how to access these $$.

Weaver: What about for the Digital Divide and the BThere program for the unhoused?
Hyster: For B There, we're doing a competitive bidding process now for nonprofits. For Digital Divide, we're meeting with the library and BVSD to figure it out.

It could be paying for internet, providing technical support, setting up hot spots. "It's going to be a very flexible funding source," Hyser says.

Hoping it includes computers, as I have a low-income senior friend who needs one RN.

Swetlik: A lot of the CARES small biz funds went "not to the best places," like giant biz. Does the 50-employee cap apply to how many workers they have in Boulder, or in total?

Yvette Bowden: You're right. A lot of organizations did not receive or apply for PPP loans. We unfortunately do not have data on who received those funds, "to our satisfaction."

Mark Would addressing the employee cap, which is apparently 100....? In the packet last week it was 50, so now I'm confused. Maybe they raised it.

Woulf (correx to his name in the previous tweet; my Mac changed it): We're looking at biz that have employee base here
Bowden: Those 100 employees would have to be here. Criteria isn't finalized, but we're looking at things like no publicly traded companies

Bowden addressing the 50 to 100 change: We got feedback that there were biz slightly bigger than 50 employees who were really hurting.

Most federal programs had 500-employee limits.

In Boulder, there are ~7,000 biz
78% fewer than 10 employees
96% fewer than 50
Less than 1% have more than 500 employees

Just FYI

Friend: What will we do with the 15% reserve? ($713K) It all has to be spent in 2020, right?
Yes, Castillo says. City keeping that for things "that are forced on us, just like the expenses we've made up till now."

Friend with this v true statement: "2020 has taken 78 years to get through the first half, but there's only 4 months left."

Castillo: The COVID Recovery Center (for unhoused persons) is something we're going to ask the county to use their $$ for.

"This is kind of an awkward way for them to hear about that."

Hyser: We're going to try and use FEMA dollars for that.

Brockett: Can we use extra $$ to direct assistance?
Castillo: It's possible. "We will not leave any money on the table."

"But we're not necessarily foreseeing that as a case. We don't want to overdo it on programs that are not designed for that amount."

I mean, $713K could give bigger stimulus checks to middle- and low-income Boulderites than the federal $$ did.

But, Boulder is restricted in how it can use that $$ by the aforementioned rules. I imagine that wouldn't count.

Weaver: There's a lot of concern in the community about the CU students being back. Maybe we can use some $$ for education and enforcement off-campus.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!