The Columbus City Council voted Tuesday to allocate federal COVID-19 relief funds, but council members differed on whether or not to include hazard pay to city employees who have been working in-person amid the pandemic.
The council voted 4-3 to approve a resolution allocating over $4.2 million in funds received from the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund into three categories: response to public health emergency, making up for a reduction in the city’s revenue and water and sewer infrastructure.
Democrats Elaine Hilber, Grace Kestler and Jerone Wood voted against the resolution. Republicans Tim Shuffett, Frank Miller and Dave Bush voted for it, as did Democrat Tom Dell.
Prior to voting on the resolution, Hilber made a motion to amend the resolution in order to allocate up to $400,000 in funds as hazard pay for city workers who continued to come into work in person amid the pandemic.
“I don’t think that a ‘thank you’ and a pat on the back is honestly enough,” she said. “I feel like we need to put our money where our mouth is and actually show people appreciation for what they did.”
The motion failed 3-4, with Kestler and Wood voting for Hilber’s amendment and the other members voting against it.
The approved resolution allocates the $4,285,248 in funding into three categories:
1. Response to public health emergency: $2,185,248.
City Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon said this could include costs related to the COVID-19 Community Task Force website, technology upgrades for virtual meetings, housing, substance abuse funding, emergency needs or administrative costs.
The city is also partnering with the county on a joint application for local not-for-profits to apply to receive funds replacing their lost revenue. They plan to make the application available online Sept. 1 and keep it open through Sept. 30, with grants awarded by Dec. 1.
2. Reduction in revenue/revenue replacement: $1.1 million
The ARP Act states that cities can use their allocations to provide for government services “to the extent of the reduction in revenue of such metropolitan city … due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.”
Ferdon said that $1.1 million is a conservative amount; the U.S. Department of Treasury estimated that they could ask for more. However, the city expected that council members would prefer to put more funds into the public health emergency response.
The funds make up for revenue lost, with a large portion coming from the parks and recreation department and The Commons.
3. Water/sewer infrastructure: $1 million
This would likely include a water main replacement on First Street and work on Fourth Street east of Franklin Street, as well as other projects, Ferdon said.
The above categories are all eligible uses for the city’s funds. However, the American Rescue Plan Act also states that the funding can be used to provide “premium pay” to essential government workers or grants to employers of essential workers.
“When those guidelines were written, those were written more specifically for city and counties that actually had to lay off police and fire and first responders,” Ferdon said. “We believe that since all of our first responders, as well as all of our city employees, were kept employed throughout the pandemic and have continued to be and have not lost income, that we would rather … recommend these funds be used for other areas in the community.”
Hilber said that she supports the funding areas laid out in the resolution; however, she thinks it is a “huge mistake” to not include extra pay for city workers and first responders to show appreciation for their work.
“Those that could work from home, they had that opportunity to stay safe,” Hilber said, “but there were a lot of employees that went to work, even with all of the ambiguity and all of the unknowns, and they were taking a huge risk.”
Hilber’s motion, as restated by Mayor Jim Lienhoop, would have amended the resolution to add a category for up to $400,000 for one-time bonuses “for those individuals who were required to show up in person for their employment.” Hilber also stated that, in order to provide these funds, the contribution to the public health emergency response would be reduced.
Dell said that while he understands Hilber’s perspective, he feels that all of their employees who worked during the pandemic were “essential,” not just those who continued to be in-person.
“And we kept them employed, and we kept working working with them, and they kept working for us,” he added. “So I believe that I think we’ve made the right appropriations within this thing in the areas that we feel like the community needs the most rebound from the pandemic and what transpired.”
He added that unless the bonus is going to everyone, they shouldn’t “pick and choose” who gets it.
Kestler, however, issued her agreement with Hilber and added that the future remains uncertain. She also noted that these workers continue to go into work while others can work from home.
“I would hope that people see why we would give some money to one over other another, and not necessarily that we’re deeming one’s work less essential than the other,” she said.
Prior to voting on the resolution allocating funds from the American Rescue Plan, city council unanimously approved the second reading of an ordinance appropriating the over $4.2 million in order to prepare it for allocation.
Now that the allocations have been approved, there are different approval processes for the different expenses, Ferdon said.
While the state board of accounts doesn’t allow the city to directly pay departments back for revenue lost, they can pay for “capital items” in roughly the same amounts. Her understanding is that the capital committee approves these expenditures.
“The water and sewer infrastructure, we can certain bring that in front of you,” she said. “Quite frankly, we’re not quite sure with the U.S. Treasury guidelines how that works.”
For the response to the public health emergency, the city can likewise provide reports to city council on how this money is being spent. Ferdon said that she’s had conversations with Kestler about using funds for housing in the community. Since the guidelines are so broad, this would be something for the city council to weigh in on, in terms of what could be spent.
“This money isn’t different in any other way,” Ferdon said. “Once you approve it in the line-item, it can be spent however the administration and board of works choose to spend it. But because it’s so unusual … the goal would be to report back on it on a quarterly basis. We can do it more often if that would help.”
Dell replied, “I believe we need to be as transparent as we possibly can. … We owe it to our constituents to make sure that we do it that way.”
