Thread by @shayshinecastle

Tonight's finance stuff is a two-parter:
1.) A regular adjustment to the base 2022 budget
2.) Discussion on how to spend the remaining $11M in ARPA funds

Presentation: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

There's some interesting stuff in both. Included in routine budget adjustments are:
$4M+ more for ongoing construction projects that are overrunning costs bc of inflation

And shifting of $2.8M to pay for police settlements this year, which I wrote about in July. boulderbeat.news/2022/07/15/pol…

Moving on quickly to part 2: ARPA

We've spent ~$8.8M so far, with $11.4M left to allocate

Quickly, here's what it's gone to in Rounds 1 and 2 (the city calls them tranches, but I honestly hate that word. It sounds like my southern Ohio family saying "trench" and I don't like it.

Service restoration: $868,600
- Restoration of rec services: $600K
- Restoration of winter shelter funding: $200K
- Restoration of public art programming: $25,100.
- Restoration of neighborhood connections grants: $43,500

Public Health Reserve: $1M
Immediate Needs: $2,108,400
- Infrastructure for internet to BHP: $888,400 (11 sites, 356 units, avg income $26,731)
- Small biz support/recovery: $420K

Round 2
$250K to explore guaranteed income
$100K for childcare

$900K for econ recovery ($200K for tourism promotion, $550K for small biz support, $150K for outdoor dining pilot)
$500K for HHS programs
$191K for community connectors
$1.5M for homeless services (outreach, daytime programming, housing retention)
$50K for fiber/smart cities

and $1.215M for arts (artist hiring, public art programs)

More info here: boulderbeat.news/2022/03/17/arp…

The majority of $$ is left to spend. Reminder: I think it has to be spent or at least allocated by the end of 2024...? Which impacts what it's going to, along with guidelines from the feds on what it can be spent on.

This is COVID recovery $$, but the allowed uses are super broad. Everything from infrastructure to technology to direct aid for residents.

Here are staff's recommendations for the rest of the $$
Left to spend: $11,370,269
Strengthening Behavioral Health Safety Net - $2.5M
Childcare Capacity & Industry Support - $1.5M
Guaranteed Income Pilot Program - $2.75M
Ponderosa Community Second Mortgage Program - $3M

Econ Recovery - $1.2M
Winter Sheltering - $435,000
Economic Recovery Initiatives - $1.2M
Winter Sheltering - $435,000

I've got more info on all that. It will be in the story.

Also: there's $547,231 leftover from the public health reserve that we didn't use

Staff recommends:
- $150K to Artist Hiring Incentive, Venue Affordability and Online Event fund (existing grant programs)
- $397,321 to basic needs, including rent and financial assistance, food security, COVID testing, etc.

A couple notes on the guaranteed income pilot, which I've written about a couple of times.

Of the $2.75M, $2.4M will actually be cash payments. The rest is for admin/consulting, etc.

It won't be called that, however, because non-poor people might freak out that poor people are getting (gasp!) money.

Program name is TBD

And a note on the $$ for winter sheltering: This will increase the number of beds from last season, when there was a big increase in the number of people being turned away.

That's from Kurt Firnhaber, director of HHS. He doesn't say how many beds they'll add, and neither did the notes.

Also RE: sheltering:
“The rising costs of this service, through hotels and increased use of space at local shelters, requires additional city funding.”

Hotel rooms have gotten more expensive. As has, like, everything else bc of inflation.

And a couple notes on the $3M Ponderosa Mobile Home Park second mortgage program.

Will allow Ponderosa owners to buy new, energy efficient mobile homes that city will build at its modular home factory on 63rd/65th and Arapahoe

A second mortgage "covers the gap on what they can afford" and the cost of the houses.

Second mortgage will be due at 30 years or sale of home. Avg of $100K assistance per home expected ($80K if interest rates go down)

This will be "a revolving fund not just for Ponderosa, but for other communities in the future as well," Firnhaber says.

Those new-build homes will be nearly net zero and fixed foundation. That's important bc mobile homes can be super inefficient and expensive to heat/cool.

39% of Ponderosa residents identify as Hispanic/Latino compared to 10.3% of the population for Boulder, and 3% Native American/Alaska Native compared to the .1% for the city.

Didn't know this, but Ponderosa was initially built as an RV park, not a mobile home park.

(Firnhaber said caravans, but those are RVs, right?)

Elizabeth Crowe, of HHS: "What we don't want to do is set ourselves up for a cliff effect" — when the $$ runs out.

Under the $2.5M Boulder is spending on behavioral health, we went to nonprofits and asked what they would spend "one-time $$ on."

"That's what we're trying to focus on," Crowe says.

Here's what that spending looks like:
- $1.75M to mental health orgs to retain, train and develop staff. Orgs with case workers or staff therapists will be prioritized

- $500K for private orgs to take Medicaid patients - either gaps in reimbursement, hiring contractors or consultants to help with billing/tracking and/or training and certification
- $100K for mental health case management for ppl working with HHS for other things

- $150K for diversity access to mental health (vouchers, language access, etc.)

Plus funds as necessary to evaluate efforts

That was in response to a q from Joseph about how much $$ this is. And what might happen when this money is all spent.

Joseph: Again, with guaranteed income, "what is the sustainability beyond 24 months? How do you continue to support them?"

Crowe: "There are a handful of pilots that are planning on extending. One thing we've learned from other cities is that it's really important to let ppl know ahead of time that this is only temporary.

"They're not designed to be forever programs."

Part of Boulder's planned childcare spending is $700K to renovate the Salberg Community Center so it can be child care facility for ages 2+

Speer asks why not infants as well.
That would cost more $$ bc there are different needs and standards, Crowe says.

Crowe with more info about guaranteed income: It took a while to hire a consultant. We're still working on who will get the $$, how much will they get, what success looks like, etc. That's still TBD.

Hope to have more info on this in February

Wallach with a general q: How much of the $20M in ARPA funds is "a one-off vs. going to need" ongoing and future funding. "There are a lot of programs in here — none of which I disagree with.

"What % of our ARPA funds is going to programs we will discontinue?"

Wallach Sigh-O-Meter: 1

Mark Woulf: "All ARPA investments have to end. They have to end by the end of 2026. Our general strategy is to have those convos" about ongoing funding and needs "through the 2024 budget process."

So, next year.

NRV: "Most of how we've come to ARPA is it's one-time funding. We're going into it trying to set expectations that this is temporary and it could end." But if the data shows things are working, that's then a convo for council to have about funding it in the future.

Wallach's not saying it, but this is likely about guaranteed income, which he has been skeptical of in the past.

But now he's mentioning the $380K going to help with the expensive cost of physical space for small biz, so maybe it's about that.

That's part of the $715K suggested for, "transformative economic recovery opportunities"

Matt Chansky, whose name I always fear I am spelling wrong, on the extra $$ going to arts: We could spend it all on rental assistance (for artists/orgs) and still not meet the need.

$150K to Artist Hiring Incentive, Venue Affordability and Online Event fund (existing grant programs).

Venue Affordability = offset costs for artists and orgs to rent theaters and galleries

We've got public speakers! Just a few, which I blame myself for. I meant to get a story out before signups for the hearing closed, but I didn't realize that had changed.

2 p.m. Wednesday, for future reference.

I sat down to write the story at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Which was still too late, tbh.

Dave Folkert (whose name I am probably spelling wrong): He's a board member and trumpet player for Boulder Phil. Asking for $50K more for arts.

Kari Palazzari, Studio Arts Boulder: Coming off the pandemic, ppl are craving the arts. "We see the human benefits of the arts every day."

We are a success story about public funding of art, Palazzari says, noting the groundbreaking of a new space and city grants that make free and pay-what-you-can offerings possible.

Julie Van Domelen from EFAA is here: "We are the canary in the coal mine for the local safety net. We're seeing some really disturbing signals in our community."

Over half of our clients are reporting less income than before the pandemic, Van Domelen says. Inflation is hitting them hard. Our food bank is breaking records in its 100-year history.

134 households per day recently — up from 80 during COVID.

"We expect the situation to worsen in coming months," Van Domelen says. County rental assistance is going to end, and other benefits may be reduced as well.

"All things are pointing in the same direction toward a very, very difficult winter. Our safety net is going to be sorely tested."

Disclosure: I used to do contract work for EFAA. I haven't since 2020...? But you still deserve to know!

Praises spending on childcare and the guaranteed income pilot: "It's a really important time to inject money into the lowest-income households," she says. "18,000 jobs in the city of Boulder that pay under $15/hour."

Yikes. Did not know that.

That unanimous vote council just did was for the adjustments to the 2022 base budget, NOT the ARPA money. They're giving informal direction tonight, with an official vote in February.

Winer asks for an extra $100K to arts.

"I'm not saying in any way the safety net is not the most important thing," BUT she wants to take the $$ from the guaranteed income pilot. "It's not starting immediately; we can reallocate this and backfill for guaranteed income."

Wallach on board with more $$ for arts, but not particularly concerned about where it comes from. He "trusts staff" to find it... likely from fund balance ($$ that comes in over budget).

Council largely seems on board with that, but Speer has some "discomfort." What was the process in deciding that this one piece needs more $$? Things are bad for low-wage earners, and they are getting worse.

Folkerts: I don't see $150K for arts in this budget; I see more. It might not be worded in that way, but the money is there.

Joseph: When I first heard this idea, I was not totally sold, and now hearing from Van Domelen, that cemented it for me.

But if we can take it from somewhere else, fine.

Winer: "I never wanted to take it from guaranteed income and not give it back." It was just for "a few months," because we're going to bring in more $$ this year than we budgeted for, right?

8-1 informal show of hands in finding $100K for arts, from wherever staff decides to find it. "At staff's discretion," was the official phrase.

Speer did not support. She gives a plug now for any folks with extra $$ to give to the nonprofits and arts groups who spoke tonight.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!