Title
Coronavirus Relief Fund Update and Closeout Process Related to the Project Assist Program (Ordinance S-47205)
Description
This report provides the City Council with additional information related to the City’s Project Assist Program as a follow-up to the Coronavirus Relief Fund Update and Closeout item from the Dec. 8, 2020 City Council Policy Session. This report also requests authorization for the City Controller to disburse, and the City Treasurer to accept, all funds necessary related to the City's Coronavirus relief allocation to the Project Assist program.
Report
Summary
On Dec. 8, 2020 at the City Council Policy Session, City Council authorized staff to use approximately $40.1 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) to offset General Fund public safety salaries. This action freed up resources in the General Fund to continue previously-approved CRF projects that would not be completed by the deadline of Dec. 30, 2020. The Project Assist program will receive additional funding of $2 million from a portion of those freed up resources in the General Fund.
Project Assist is a City program administered by the Human Services Department that provides financial assistance to low-income households experiencing crisis in order to resolve their past due City services bills.
Currently, the City advertises Project Assist by distributing flyers and information to community partners and advertising through the Human Services Department website. In addition, residents are directed to Project Assist through self-referral, community partners and the Water Services Department. To obtain assistance, a resident typically calls a central intake phone number to schedule an appointment, at which Human Services staff assesses eligibility.
The current Project Assist program criteria includes:
- 150 percent of Federal Poverty Level (can be waived by supervisor for extreme circumstances);
- One-time assistance in a 12-month period;
- Maximum payment of $400 (with exceptions as approved by a supervisor); and
- All services and fees on City Services bill are covered.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the City is experiencing an increase in delinquency for customer accounts, resulting in a total of approximately $4 million as of Dec. 10, 2020.
In order to expedite relief during the current crisis, staff proposes to significantly streamline the process for residents to access the new funds allocated by Council to Project Assist.
Delinquent residential customers will be identified from reporting that is obtained through the billing system for the City Services accounts. Customer accounts will be prioritized based upon objective criteria indicating that the account holder is experiencing financial distress. Examples of these criteria include: residential accounts that have missed multiple monthly payments within the last 18 months; or accounts that have made multiple monthly partial payments to a single account throughout the past 18 months. These criteria aim to identify those households most in need.
The suggested Water Services Project Assist program criteria for the additional funding includes:
- One-time assistance;
- No maximum payment of $400;
- All services and fees on City Services bill covered; and
- Accounts with any documented tampering or theft of services are ineligible.
Staff in the City’s Utility Billing Center will immediately begin additional outreach efforts to delinquent residential customers. The City will contact customers telephonically and request the customer’s authorization to apply funds to their account. Fund distribution will be closely monitored and reported regularly.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers Inger Erickson, Jeff Barton and Karen Peters and the Budget and Research, Finance, Human Services and Water Services departments.