Broomfield staff propose American Rescue Plan money delegations

Aug. 4—The city and county of Broomfield is slated to receive more than $20 million through the United States Department of Treasury's American Rescue Plan Act, but officials are still working through how to spend the money.

Of the $350 billion in emergency funds, the city of Broomfield will receive $7,040,034 and the county of Broomfield will receive $13,687,000, totaling in $20,727,034 in available dollars. During the July 19 study session, City and County Manager Jennifer Hoffman outlined a potential breakdown of the funds. The council memo shows approximately 49%, or $10,127,034 of the money would go to restoration of lost revenue for general governmental services; 24% or $5 million would go to water, sewer and broadband infrastructure; 25%, or $5,200,000 would go to equity-focused services and 2%, or $400,000 would go to disaster mitigation, resilience and continued support for the public health response to COVID-19.

Hoffman told the Council the federal government is continuing to work through details on how the dollars can be spent.

"We continue to be some in the grey area, we're trying not to get in the grey area," Hoffman said. "I know it sounds like a large plate of money. Again, from a staff perspective, we're going line-by-line to send in how we would like to compartmentalize these funds to ensure that it is in fact an adequate and accurate way we fall into the categories."

She spoke about a lack of parks and sewer infrastructure in Broomfield's First Filing that staff and the council have been looking at for about 30 years as one example of where the money could go. She said staff is working on a funding approach that prioritizes projects that align with the operating and Capital Improvement Plan budgets "to get as much done as we possibly can."

The estimated $5 million for water, sewer and broadband would help address the city and county's aging infrastructure, Hoffman said, and the equity-focused designated dollars would directly benefit populations that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

"Objectives of this funding include responding to pandemic response needs, filling revenue shortfalls among state and local governments and implementing a requirement that focuses on those communities and populations hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis by utilizing an equity approach," the council memo reads.

Similarly to the COVID-19 reimbursement money, Hoffman said the city and county of Broomfield has "taken the more conservative approach to get the certification and authorization to do it before we spend," as opposed to other communities that have already decided how to distribute the funds.

Councilwoman Kimberly Groom asked how the percentages of funding allocations were determined. Hoffman said the percentages are not a guidance from the federal government, but rather the result of assessing how to capitalize on the Capital Improvement Plan, along with existing programs and initiatives. Groom said her main concern is how much money would be put toward outdated water and sewer.

"With $20 million I was hoping to put the entirety or majority of it toward water and sewer infrastructure, so I was really surprised to only see $5 million," she said.

Several councilmembers said they want to see a breakdown within each category of where the money would go, which Hoffman said city staff are currently working on.

The money is non-recurring and may be used to pay for eligible costs incurred or obligated between March 3, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2024, the memo states. All work must be completed and the funds must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026. Funds will be distributed in two payments, with the first half being received this past June and the next half will be received in June 2022.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Law-Evans posed a self-titled existential question: "Where does the money come from?"

Hoffman told her the money is adding to the nation's deficit, and Law-Evans emphasized it is not free money.

"This is money that's being given to the city and county of Broomfield supposedly to reinvigorate our economy, but as we know from time, and I'm very concerned about inflation, this is almost guaranteed, the whole concept is guaranteed to accelerate inflation going forward," Law-Evans said. "Because there's no other way to pay off these debts. ... With that in mind, I do not ask this question lightly, is there a way to turn this money down, and if so, where does it go?"

Dozens of community members watching in the chambers — in attendance for the succeeding discussion on homelessness — applauded Law-Evans, resulting in Mayor Guyleen Castriotta calling order and one man being removed from the chambers for speaking out of turn.

After the crowd quieted, Hoffman told Law-Evans she doesn't know where the funds would go, and no one is forcing Broomfield to accept the money.

"With Council's concurrence it would be helpful to me to know what would happen with this vaporous money that the government is creating for this project before we accept it and what happens if we turn it down," Law-Evans said.

Councilwoman Jean Lim said she'd like to see some of the money go toward affordable child care, and Councilwoman Heidi Henkel expressed interest in funds going toward housing security.

Hoffman said she expects additional guidance to come out in six or eight weeks, and city staff will come back to the Council by October with the breakdown of proposed expenditures.