Blaine City Council unanimously voted 6-0 during the July 12 meeting to amend the city’s 2021-22 budget to include federal aid and commit $6 million to fixing the East Blaine sewer system in 2022. Councilmember Charlie Hawkins was absent for the vote.
The city of Blaine will receive over $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to help offset revenue the city lost due to the pandemic during 2020 and 2021.
Congress passed the $1.9 trillion ARPA in March to help local governments with its $360 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Act Fund. The money will be delivered in two tranches: The first payment of $782,591 was delivered in late June and the next payment of the same amount is expected by mid-2022.
The U.S. Department of Treasury requires ARPA funds be used to help close the gap for revenue lost during the pandemic. City officials estimated the city of Blaine lost $745,170 total during 2020; $404,000 in general revenue, $222,400 in street revenue and $118,000 in lodging revenue.
Proposed ARPA allocations were presented to council in late April and then approved unanimously 6-0, with councilmember Eric Davidson excused, during the June 28 city council meeting. The city’s budget was amended to account for the new-found money during the July 12 meeting, and Blaine city manager and acting finance director Michael Jones said departments could start using the money as soon as July 13.
Funds will be used for both immediate expenses and upcoming expenses through to the end of 2023. The second allocation will be worked into the 2021-22 budget.
Jones proposed $435,000, or 55 percent of the first payment, go toward the city’s general fund that supports the city’s basic operations. Another $36,000, or 5 percent of the first payment, will fund seasonal workers for street maintenance.
The following amounts totaling about $471,000 will be used as follows:
• Police: $149,129. The money will fund a 12-month advance pay for vehicle leases, add back the lieutenant position, pay salaries and wages and the utility space rental.
• Finance: $86,500. The money will go toward a utility bill relief program for people unable to pay their bills ($40,000), the RED Loan forgiveness program for businesses ($40,000) and miscellaneous expenditures.
• Public works: $73,000. The money will pay for seasonal workers and restoring the parks budget, which took the greatest hit during the pandemic, to its 2020 allocation.
• Administration: $66,000. The money will re-establish a full-time city clerk position, fund the recruitment of the city’s finance director and go toward employees’ travel and training.
• Community Development Services: $47,000. The money will provide for additional professional services, travel, training, office supplies and economic development projects.
• Information technology: $37,000. These funds will be used to update legacy information systems and other incidental miscellaneous costs.
• Court: $12,500. The money will enhance court security.
This leaves $311,462, or 40 percent, of unappropriated funds to go toward things such as one-time expenses, continuing city programs, economic development and infrastructure projects. At this time, Jones didn’t know where the unappropriated funding would go, but said it would be an interesting conversation over the next few months.
During the July 12 city council meeting, mayor Bonnie Onyon proposed council take future action to put unallocated ARPA funds toward building a G Street performance pavilion. ARPA funds from lodging revenue, which supports tourism expenses, and economic development could go toward the pavilion, Onyon said.
“I think this is an ideal opportunity to be able to really make a statement on the plaza and be a tourism draw,” she said.
Davidson agreed the pavilion was a good use of funds.
“You see the same money is going every year to the same programs,” he said. “When that program is done, it’s done until the next year. This is something we could have for 20, 30, 40, 50 years with some maintenance to it.”
In the meantime, Blaine residents will see improvements in landscaping and maintenance.
“It will allow us to re-establish or continue some programs we would have had to cut,” Jones said. “For example, we had to cut lawn maintenance more than previously, so we can keep those at service levels where they were last year.”
East Blaine sewer gets $6 million in 2022
Going forward, the amended budget also includes a $6 million commitment in the city’s six-year capital improvement plan for wastewater utility to expedite east Blaine sewer repairs in 2022.
The neglected east Blaine sewer system was first brought to council’s attention during a March 8 study session when public works staff explained to council that sewer infrastructure, first recommended for repair in 2005, had caused sewage to leak into some east Blaine streets. On June 16, Jones sent a memo to city councilmembers and east Blaine housing developers signaling that the faulty sewer system could delay housing in an area hot for housing development.
The wastewater utility amendment will increase the predicted expenditures from $2.8 over 2021-2025 to $6.5 million over 2021-2022 for sewer replacements and enhancements. The city is spending $500,000 in 2021 for sewer design, included in the $6.5 million.
The project was accelerated from work being done over five years to two after the city realized the project needed to be constructed in a tighter timeframe, Jones said. Construction is expected to start next spring and finish by October 2022, according to a memo from Jones to city council.
“We now know from the work interim [public works] director Bob Hammond initiated and Mr. Ziemianek has continued on that those numbers are not enough,” Jones said of the previously budgeted $2.8 million project. “East Blaine pipe capacity, through a series of improvements, really all needs to be front-loaded and done at the same time, and the cost of it is higher than we had anticipated based upon the inspection, analysis, modeling and design work.”
The city expects to fund the $6 million project with a $6 million sewer loan, Jones said, adding that the city already has reserves for the $1.5 million project.
The amended capital improvement plan also includes a $1.5 million project in 2025 to continue the sewer line under I-5.
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