Sponsor: Finance
Title
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Request for Reallocation of American Rescue Plan Funds
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Recommendation
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1. Reduce original American Rescue Plan Act allocations by a total of $3.172 million as follows:
a. $1.6 million from Healing Streets
b. $572,000 from RECERT
c. $1 million from the Ramsey County Care Center and Lake Owasso Residence.
2. Approve an increase in the personnel complement of the County Attorney’s Office by a 1.0 Full Time Equivalent Paralegal.
3. Allocate up to $1.4 million to the County Attorney’s Office to address the court backlog and increased complexity of cases in 2024 and 2025.
4. Allocate up to $600,000 to the County Sheriff’s Office to address costs related to the court backlog in 2023.
5. Allocate up to $1 million to Administration and Evaluation for the continued work in 2024 and 2025.
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Background and Rationale
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The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 was signed into law on March 11, 2021. The relief package provided funding in several areas such as state and local aid, education, rental assistance, transit, stimulus payments for individuals, and other provisions. In addition, ARPA provided $350 billion in funding for state and local governments. Ramsey County has received a total grant amount of $106,893,403 from the US Treasury Local Government ARPA funds. The ARPA funding must be obligated by December 31, 2024, and can be spent through December 31, 2026. This allows time for planning and investment in various tiers from immediate needs through bold investments that impact the systems and residents throughout Ramsey County.
In 2021, the County Manager presented an overall approach to the ARPA funding. Since then multiple requests for ARPA funding have gone to the Ramsey County Board. The approved investments included Right Track + workforce initiative ($2.1 million), affordable housing investment (up to $37 million), Racial Equity and Community Engagement work ($2.7 million), violence prevention (up to $16.5 million) and workforce ecosystem (up to $9.5 million) plus administrative funding and Tier 1 immediate investments. Overall, the entire $106.9 million in ARPA funds have been allocated by the Ramsey County Board. This Request for Board Action (RBA) is an update on overall ARPA spending and programs to date and includes a request for authority to reallocate funds from some current projects to other areas with high needs. Ramsey County will continue to review spending and reallocate funds as needed in 2024 as we approach the December 31, 2024 obligation deadline.
Update on ARPA Funding
Overall, through December 31, 2023, Ramsey County has spent $52,608,419 million in ARPA funds. Below is a table of spending to date:
|
Description |
Tier |
Adjusted Budget |
Spend through 12/31/2023 |
|
Public Health Ongoing Pandemic Response |
1 |
$1.1 million |
$325,196 |
|
Workforce Development: Right Track + |
1 |
$1.1 Million |
$1,105,589 |
|
Racial Equity & Community Engagement |
1 |
$2.72 million |
$1,469,287 |
|
Emergency Shelter Expansion to 2022 |
1 |
$5.2 million |
$5,120,000 |
|
Support for Ramsey County Direct Care (LOR and RCCC) |
1 |
$1 million |
$0 |
|
Support for County Attorney COVID Case Backlog |
1 |
$1.1 million |
$1,027,651 |
|
Employee Vaccine and Testing Infrastructure and Implementation |
1 |
$617,290 |
$617,290 |
|
2022-2023 budget to support expanded county service delivery |
2 and 3 |
$20.15 million |
$20,150,000 |
|
Workforce ecosystem and Public Health Workforce Continuity |
4 |
Up to $9.5 million |
$2,765,271 |
|
Violence Prevention |
4 |
Up to $16 million |
$2,653,508 |
|
Affordable Housing |
5 |
Up to $37 million |
$7,600,643 |
|
Administration/Evaluation |
- |
$2 million |
$1,799,175 |
|
Employee Stipends |
- |
$4.01 million |
$4,017,929 |
|
Space and Technology Workplace Adaptations |
- |
$2.2 million |
$1,534,261 |
|
Information Services |
- |
$3 million |
$1,518,508 |
|
Financial Assistance Services |
- |
$1.2 million |
$608,846 |
|
MNCHOICES |
- |
$1.1 million |
$147,632 |
|
TOTAL |
|
$109 million |
$52,608,419 |
Work in all areas is moving forward with significant investments being made in the three major Tier 4 and 5 areas - Workforce Ecosystem, Violence Prevention and Affordable Housing. More information on individual programs is available here: www.ramseycounty.us/rise <http://www.ramseycounty.us/rise>.
Funding Reductions:
Healing Streets is part of the Alternative Response ARPA Investment that was approved by the Ramsey County Board in November 2021. Healing Streets received a total allocation of $2.8 million. Since that time, much work has moved forward and it has been determined that less funding is needed for this initiative. Therefore, funding is reduced by $1.6 million to a total of $1.2 million.
In the original ARPA allocation, $1 million in funding was set aside for the Ramsey County Care Center (RCCC) and Lake Owasso Residence (LOR) since the ongoing pandemic had a significant impact on direct care facilities including staffing, COVID-19 care, testing requirements, referrals and much more. Although both LOR and the RCCC both experienced these impacts, they were able to do it within the funding available to them. Since none of this funding was used and Ramsey County no longer has increased costs due to COVID at LOR, staff recommends reallocating $1 million in funding.
Finally, the Ramsey County Board allocated $2.72 million to Racial Equity and Community Engagement Response Team (RECERT) as part of the Tier 1 investments to support much of the critical community work happening. These investments supported the Equity Action Circles, Family Coach Model, Trusted Messenger and COVID-19 responses. Over $1.5 million has been spent with about $1.2 million remaining. Based on estimates for the work in 2024-2026, this area needs $628,000 of the remaining funds and can reallocate $572,000.
Additional Funding Requests:
County Attorney’s Office Court Backlog and Increased Complexity- $1.4 million in 2024 and 2025
Previously, the County Attorney’s Office received $1.1 million to address the court backlog in 2022 and 2023. This funding paid for 5.0 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) to help manage the backlog of cases from the COVID pandemic. These funds have been exhausted and staff is now requesting an additional $1.4 million to pay for 6.0 FTEs (2.0 Asst. County Attorneys, 2.0 Paralegals, 1.0 Legal Secretary and 1.0 Victim/Witness Advocate) to support the increased needs in the community and increased number of criminal and civil cases. The 6.0 FTEs will help the county to manage the increased number of felony cases referrals, number of homicides which are complex and time intensive to prepare for trial, increased number of calendar sessions, increasing number of people served at civil commitment court hearings, substantial number of Rule 20 proceedings, and markedly increased civil litigation. The additional staff will continue to help manage the increased complexity of cases post-COVID and assist in retaining experienced prosecutors and attracting new prosecutors to the office under the current tough labor market. The new 1.0 FTE Paralegal will help the Commitments Unit manage its additional responsibilities in Rule 20 matters to address the increase in the number of individuals being found incompetent in criminal cases, the new court calendars and workgroups created to manage Rule 20 cases, and the gaps in the criminal and commitment systems that prevent residents from receiving services they need. The funds will be used in 2024 and 2025.
County Sheriff’s Office Court and Security Services - $600,000 in 2023
The increased service demands in court and security services is attributed to the backlog in the criminal and civil court systems as well as responses to violent crime following the COVID-19 global pandemic. The increased service demands were centered in five areas: jury trials and hearings, jail population reduction related hearings, specialty courts, court calendars, and processing court orders. This aligns with the funding provided to the County Attorney’s Office in 2022 and 2023. Funding of $600,000 to account for increased personnel costs, primarily temporary salaries and overtime, is requested for 2023. These costs were not included in the Sheriff’s Office 2023 operating budget. To date, the Sheriff’s Office has not received ARPA funding.
Administration and Evaluation - $1 million in 2024, 2025 and 2026
Since March 2020, Ramsey County has worked to build supports around the COVID related funding including contract monitoring and technical assistance, program evaluation, sub-recipient monitoring and contract services for review and audit of federal funds. Over the nearly four years, the county has learned more about its needs and built teams to help ensure the work is done to meet federal funding requirements and be responsive to community input received, particularly around contracting. This area received $2 million worth of Tier 1 funding through ARPA and has exhausted most of those funds.
The additional $1 million requested will invest in continuing the Operational Support Services work to complete the reporting, contracting, subrecipient monitoring and accounting related to ARPA. This work has decreased over time but will continue throughout the life of the grant. In addition, the funding will support the ongoing program evaluation work happening to measure our success. The funding is anticipated to be sufficient to have staff available through the closeout of ARPA in 2026.
Many priorities and funding amounts were originally determined in 2021 and 2022. As Ramsey County’s response has evolved, needs have changed. Based on this, the actions taken in this RBA will reallocate funds based on the current needs. Staff will likely return in 2024 for additional reallocations as more information from the US Treasury on the definition of obligation and as the work progresses throughout the year.
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County Goals (Check those advanced by Action)
☒ Well-being ☒ Prosperity ☒ Opportunity ☒ Accountability
Racial Equity Impact
The programs proposed through the COVID-19 related funding seek to specifically address and overcome issues of existing inequity based on race, ethnicity, class and culture in Ramsey County. This need for a racially equitable response is further underscored by the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has had on African American, American Indian, and other underrepresented racially and ethnically diverse communities across the United States. Through focused and targeted engagement efforts, trusted messengers, data collection and continued engagement with community members that can guide program alterations in real-time, Ramsey County will ensure that the processes it employs align with the outcomes the community is seeking.
Community Participation Level and Impact
Throughout 2020 and 2021, Ramsey County has conducted community engagement around COVID-19 issues. The Racial and Health Equity Administrators did a series of community engagement events specifically around food and basic needs, workforce solutions and RECERT to help inform ARPA funding decisions. This information has informed the actions brought forward for immediate needs items (Tier 1) and other longer-term investments (Tiers 4-5).
☒ Inform ☒ Consult ☒ Involve ☒ Collaborate ☐ Empower
Fiscal Impact
This request includes a total of $3.172 million in reductions to ARPA funding for Healing Streets, RECERT and RCCC and LOR. It also includes allocations totaling $3 million to the County Attorney’s Office, the County Sheriff’s Office and the Administration and Evaluation areas. This has a net impact of $172,000 which will go to off-set the overcommitment of ARPA funds of $109 million out of the total grant of $106.9 million. Many of the initiatives are up to amounts and the county has experienced and also anticipate underspending over the next year. Each tier/priority that has been identified will be re-evaluated in six months to determine if additional ARPA funds need to be reallocated. County staff will continue to monitor this and provide updates to the Ramsey County Board. All ARPA funding is accounted for in separate projects and Finance provides regular financial reports posted at www.ramseycounty.us/RISE <http://www.ramseycounty.us/RISE>.
Last Previous Action
On November 16, 2021, the Ramsey County Board authorized up to $16 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding to support Violence Prevention initiatives through 2024 (Resolution B2021-251).
On November 16, 2021, the Ramsey County Board approved American Rescue Plan Act Funding Request for Tier 1 Priority Administrative Items and authorized up to $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Ramsey County Care Center and Lake Owasso Residence for their on-going COVID response; up to $2 million to support administration and evaluation (Resolution B2021-252).
On September 21, 2021, the Ramsey County Board approved $2.72 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to support Racial Equity and Community Engagement Response Team initiatives through 2022 (Resolution B2021-206).
August 3, 2021, County Manager presentation to the County Board - Update on American Rescue Plan Act funding.
On June 1, 2021, the Ramsey County Board authorized the County Manager to accept $53,446,701.50 from the US Treasury Local Government American Rescue Plan Act funds. (Resolution B2021-121)
On April 20, 2021, the County Manager presentation to the County Board - American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Attachments
None.