John Engen, Mayor - Read the letter regarding the preliminary budget for this year. See attached letter.
Leigh Griffing - We have a calendar that we will be issuing shortly. This will be posted on the budget website. All these budget documents will begin to be uploaded later today. Departments will be bringing their needs to be discussed before the Council. Prior to each of the budget committee meetings, documents that include much more detail on the requests will be available.
Heather Harp - Mayor, could you share that letter?
John Engen - It will be posted to the website and distributed to Council members as well.
Heather Harp - I want to recognize the leadership you provide to the City. I do appreciate how big this role is. I appreciate all you do, as well as staff bringing this all together.
John Engen - Thank you. I have a great team.
Stacie Anderson - You laid out some things that were one-time ARPA funding-eligible, as well as ongoing budgeting. How will that be reflected in the budget documents, Leigh, so we can track the ARPA funds and it doesn't look like the City is suddenly spending so much money?
Leigh Griffing - The best way to find the info is in the individual request forms, as that is the best way to see how things will be split out.
Stacie Anderson - Thank you. How will those ARPA funds be reflected in the totals?
John Engen - The spreadsheets should reflect this information clearly.
Dale Bickell - We are in the budget process. Easiest is to do as Leigh suggested, to look at the new request forms. They will help to show specifics.
Mirtha Becerra - I think Dale just answered my question. I just want to make sure we can search for ARPA funding going to specific projects without having to go through all the departments to find ARPA funding. Can we do that?
Leigh Griffing - The way it is reflected currently it is reflected by tax funding and non-tax funding and then you can travel to the specific request to find that info.
Jordan Hess - This is shows what a bit deal the American Rescue Plan is. This is a huge shot in the arm for communities. Thank you to Senator Tester for his work.
Heather Harp - Mayor, can you speak to what did not make your list?
John Engen - The list of long and legitimate hopes and dreams is extensive and not fundable. You will see in each department a number of requests that I think are absolutely legitimate, but given our circumstances, we couldn't fund them right now. We tried to work with department heads to figure out things we could do one-time, as we are continuing to manage the bounds of our budget. ARPA is helping with that considerably for the next couple of years. We had to make decisions around priority and opportunity around requests.
Mirtha Becerra - I have been trying to learn about ARPA funding. There are specifics as to what the money can be used and cannot be used for. I am wondering if it might be useful to have an "ARPA 101" with Leigh or Dale so we better understand why funds are going where, etc.
John Engen - I think we could definitely do that.
Jordan Hess - I think that would be really helpful. It gives us the opportunity for the public to see how these funds can be utilized.
John Engen - We have put together an internal team to help with ARPA guidance and are reaching outside the organization, too.
Public comment called for and there was none.
John Engen - Thank you for your time.