Agenda

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City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

04/12/2022

BACKGROUND

The 117th United States Congress passed a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill called The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ("ARPA") which was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. ARPA will deliver $350 billion for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments and the City of Schertz will receive a total of $10,417,416.86 from ARPA. This amount will be delivered in two equal disbursements or tranches and will equate to $5,208,708.43 per tranche.There are five categories outlined in ARPA where funds can be spent and per discussion held at the City Council Budget Retreat on August 6, 2021, staff recommends allocating the funds as such.

On October 29, 2021, staff received hazard pay equal to $0.50 per scheduled hour worked during the year of the disaster declaration. Employees that were hired after the declaration received a prorated amount to match their contributions during that time period. For example a standard 40 hour per week employee would have received $1,040.00. Fire and EMS employees have more scheduled hours per week and received $1,378 and $1,456 respectively. Overall the program had $413,240 in expenditures.

Recently the allocations for Category 2 Spending for Business Recovery Grants ended and had $571,500 remaining. Staff proposes to use these remaining funds for a second round of hazard pay for employees using the same criteria as the first round with an estimated total cost of $386,993. This amount is slightly lower than the previously as the City will not pay employees who have since left employment.

GOAL

The goal of utilizing ARPA funds is to speed up the recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

Increased retention help reduce service delays and increase citizen satisfaction.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

Approval of Resolution No. 22-R-39

FISCAL IMPACT

These funds are covered fully by the American Rescue Plan Act.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends approval of Resolution No. 22-R-39

Attachments
Resolution 22-R-39