The Honolulu City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a solution to use nearly $40 million of the federal budget the city earned during the COVID-19 pandemic for other purposes.
As adopted, Resolution 299 will reprogram the American Rescue Plan Act’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds toward social services, affordable housing, law enforcement and homeless services programs, among others.
Under the ARPA funds the city received, there are at least two portions — or tranches — of remaining money, equating to almost $80 million, the city says.
Resolution 299 seeks to reallocate Tranche 2 cash, an amount in excess of $39. 7 million, to what the city describes as “revenue replacement” projects, as well as pay hazard compensation to eligible city staff hired during the pandemic.
According to the resolution, some of them include:
>> $5 million for grants to nonprofits to help people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, adding Americans and families and/or hospitalized patients to address substance abuse or intellectual fitness issues.
>> $5 million to develop city housing to service the 30% area median income- and-below population — for a single person, that equates to annual income of $27,510 or less.
>> $2. 5 million to inspire the construction of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, by improving the permitting process and supporting homeless kauhale or other community or community housing models in districts outside of Honolulu’s urban area.
>> $1 million to fund the Honolulu Police Department’s Patrol Division.
>> $1 million to expand the “stabilization center” involving HPD and the state Department of Health to create a transition for others suffering from serious mental illness and those with substance abuse issues to “stabilize and get long-term care. “
>> $5 million to fund the Home Ownership Assistance Grant program to support households and communities disproportionately affected by the COVID- 19 pandemic.
>> $150,000 to fund a multi-agency (municipal, state and federal law enforcement) community-based approach to prevent, control and violent crime, substance abuse and gang activity in Council District Nine, which spans from Waipahu to parts of Ewa Beach. Councilman Augie Tulba most recently represents District Nine.
Ahead of the vote, Councilmember Andria Tupola said it’s time for the city to pay hazard compensation to city workers who have worked during the pandemic.
“It’s a huge amount, but there’s a threat premium to be paid and we have to honestly pay the threat premium that we owe, especially to our first responders,” he said. “And I also need to thank those who have worked for this city during complicated cases to serve the public. “
Tupola’s husband, Tavo Tupola, is hired as an HPD officer, according to a Jan. 24 expression of interest.
In the meantime, offering hazard pay to some municipal workers will likely take time, the city says.
During the Council’s Jan. 18 Committee on Budget meeting, which addressed this item, city Managing Director Mike Formby told the panel that as far as hazard pay was concerned, negotiations with city employee unions are pending.
“We’re going to have the ability, through the budget process, at some point, to use adequate cash to pay the risk premium,” Formby said. “The difficulty will be whether the figure is different from the one we assign; We may not have the right credits.
He added that “the option is that we’re talking about a two-year payment, which means that if we don’t have enough in the first year, then we can consider an allowance the following year. “
In November, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the Council began discussion over the use of pandemic-era federal funds.
Ian Scheuring, the mayor’s deputy communications director, has told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in the past that the city’s plans for “Tranche 1 ($40 million) and Tranche 2 ($39 million) will be used to reimburse the city’s expenses, which will create more capacity in the FY25 budget. “
He added that the city’s loss of profits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to U. S. Treasury guidelines, is estimated at about $246 million in 2020 and $139 million in 2021.
Board Chairman Tommy Waters also approved the use of ARPA cash to pay the risk premium. In 2023, the Council endorsed this concept by adopting a formal resolution.
Passed in June, Resolution 114 suggested the city offer “hazard pay or bonus of up to $13 per hour to eligible municipal staff who have performed work essential to the COVID-19 public health emergency by employing a portion of the available work. “money” from ARPA.
The Council’s prior legislation also pushed for the city “to negotiate with the unions representing city employees to establish reasonable and comprehensive provisions related to eligibility for premium or hazard pay.”
According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, ARPA funds must be obligated for new, eligible uses by Dec. 31.
And it adds that jurisdictions have until Dec. 31, 2026, to make full use of that budget — cash earmarked for costs incurred after March 3, 2021.
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