Thread by @shayshinecastle

Quickly to our public hearing: Budget stuff

documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

This is a process called an adjustment to base. It's when the city has extra revenue or expenses that it didn't budget for ahead of time. (The current year's budget is worked on April-Oct and approved in Dec of the previous year.)

This adjustment is special, though, bc we've got all that $$ from the feds (ARPA), additional tax revenue from the CCS tax extension (OK'd by voters in Nov. 2021) and expenditures from the Marshall Fire and wind storm.

We got a look at possible Round 2 of ARPA spending last month: boulderbeat.news/2022/01/29/gua…

Council asked for more $$ for small biz recovery. And they got it: $280K more than staff initially planned.

Some other changes:
- $100K more to promote tourism again, post-COVID
- $100K more for childcare, a huge challenge for families all the time, but especially during COVID

Here's what we're spending round 2 on:
ARPA funding recommendations ($4.806M total)
- $500K for HHS recovery program extensions
- $191K for emergency response connectors program
- $250K for guaranteed income pilot

- $1.5M for Building Home (day programming for recently housed or those in line for housing)
- $50K for Fiber / Smart Cities 2.0 (continuing city broadband and other interim measures to provide internet)

- $100K for childcare ($20K for startups to new biz; $1,500 each and $80K for grants to existing biz, $2K-$5K each)

- $900K for econ recovery ($100K for BIPOC owned biz, including booth space, consulting and other assistance through NAACP, Latino chamber and SBDC...

and $450K for small biz grants to help with (1) digital marketing enhancements, (2) pandemic-related financial impacts, and (3) enabling sustainability, compliance, and infrastructure enhancements)

- $100K for strategy development of econ recovery

- $915K for arts workforce grants (to get hiring back up)
- $300K to re-establish arts programming

Of the ~$20M we have gotten or will get from ARPA, the majority is yet to be spent: $11,370,269

So that's extra $$ being added to the budget. So is the Community, Culture, Safety and Resilience tax, which residents OK'd extending in November. (Which is why it wasn't written into the budget... staff didn't want to plan on $$ it might not get)

What's that going to in 2022?

$1.1M for IT
- $450,000 for constituent relationship management system to be replaced ($300K spent so far, for total project cost of $750K)
- $650K for cloud-based enterprise data platform ($1M spent so far for total cost of $1.65M

That upgrade "will enable the platform to incorporate and run data across multiple internal systems, such as utility account and parking data"

$7,696,403 for Fire Station No. 3, which I reported on ~2 weeks ago? Turns out the total cost is even higher than my calculations suggested: $32 million, nearly $20M over the initial budget some 4-5 years ago.

Mostly bc of the cost of land: $9M

Construction estimated at $18M for that facility; $13,354,973 has been spent so far, including planning, design and (mostly) land

$550K of the CCRS revenue will go to transportation & mobility for Safer Main Streets. 2 projects so far; this will cover design and consultant costs. Both to be constructed by June 2024

- $300K for 30th St multi-modal (raised, separated bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and landscaping) total cost $7.088M, including $4.553M in state grants

- $250K for 28th/Colorado intersection safety enhancements; total cost $3.156M, including $2.104M in state grants

One other note about the Fire Station No. 3... not all of that is coming from the CCRS tax this year, but some will in the future. Because this has been in the works for awhile, there was $$ set aside from other places.

It's complicated, but the total cost is most important IMO

OK, so that's all the new $$ we're getting that we didn't plan on. Now here are some expenses we didn't plan on, bc of the wind storm that led to the Marshall Fire.

FEMA disaster declaration allows 75% cost recovery for emergency, permanent work. So much of this will be compensated at some point.

4 dept. saw expenses related to this
OSMP - $1,700,603 for “trailhead restoration, fence repair, ditch clean-up, farm structure rebuilds, surveyor fees, and other construction costs”

Parks & Rec - $379,345
Boulder Creek Bridge (by the library) needs completely replaced due to structural damage from a tree falling on it during the windstorm

Abutments will be evaluated for structural damage once bridge is removed

Housing and Human Services - $48,415
For assistance to mobile home residents and meals for unhoused folks moved from a hotel to shelter so hotel could accommodate fire victims

Public safety overtime - $59,438
Fire: $52,116 for 869 hours between Dec. 30, Jan 7
Police - $7,335

In regards to the CCRS tax, staff noted that the city may be getting more $$ from the feds for infrastructure, so some of the projects the city initially planned to spend that on might not need the CCRS tax money.

Although there *was* a list of possible projects, there was a bit of flexibility written into the ballot language as well. boulderbeat.news/2021/09/21/com…

We have no idea how much $$ we might get, Senior Budget Manager Mark Woulf says.

Speer asks why staff has planned a study session for the guaranteed income pilot. Council had a lot of questions on that last time, bc staff was planning on hiring a consultant. Council wanted the $$ dispersed more quickly, and maybe through existing organizations.

But there were also questions, mostly from councilman Wallach, about giving $$ directly to low-income folks rather than paying for specific things. And qs about the efficacy.

Lots of data exists on how well this works. Including locally: EFAA did a version with low-income families. commfound.org/blog/end-child…

Staff said they scheduled a study session to present some of these findings, along with info from all the dozen-plus other cities that are doing these right now. (Or have already done them.)

Speer, Yates again ask to move quickly on this.

"Studies have shown what folks need most in cash in hand, without restrictions," says Katie Farnan, at the very brief public hearing. (2 speakers!)

Yates: Is there any way to accelerate that study session, if we have to have one? (Currently planned for May 24)

NRV: I want to defer to staff on that one. We've got a lot of things going on.

Which reminds me... it was part of the consent agenda (council didn't talk about it) but staff released a timeline of when they will get to all council's new priorities. Will update at boulderbeat.news for ya'll and have it in this weekend's newsletter.

Seems kinda boring, but it will give you a timeline of when council will be considering things, so you can plan your involvement accordingly.

Folkerts: What are we trying to do at the study session, exactly?

"It would be helpful to know general support" for doing this guaranteed income pilot, Woulf says.

Many of the details — like how much $$ ppl will get, and who will get it — are TBD.

Friend: I think at our (last) discussion, we just flatly supported it. I would like us to be quicker with that, but I understand why staff thought we needed more info after that conversation.

Brockett: I asked for more info, bc I support it but I want more info on how it will be implemented.

We settled on OK, more study for guaranteed income, but maybe do it faster).

And with that very brief discussion, council votes to OK these adjustments to the 2022 budget. Council thanks staff for making changes to the ARPA $$.

"This is gov't working well and fairly efficiently in v difficult times," Benjamin says.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!