Travis County Commissioners Court
June 16, 2009,
Item 30
>> number 30 is to receive update on Travis County response to american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 funding opportunities, including participation in intergovernmental coordination efforts with other political subdivisions in the central Texas region.
>> thank you.
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners.
dietz eckstein.
i want to give you a brief update.
over the last couple of months the court has had the opportunity to approve several grant applications, but we've not really had a conversation about where we are with the arra funding.
my goal today is to give the court a brief update.
i do have a powerpoint presentation which is available on the screen and is also -- you have copies of it.
there are four parts to my presentation.
the first is I just want to give a brief summary of what we've applied for so far.
i also want to go into a little more detail about the specific grants that we've requested.
then I want to give you an update on the general central Texas rm money.
i'm hesitant to say the arra money because there's a huge debate going on about the pronunciation.
i have asked for a formal opinion on that, but have not heard back yet.
the final issue I want to mention to the court is the intergovernmental collaboration efforts going on with the city of Austin and with a lot of other jurisdictions.
that's really a four-point program I want to do.
first of all, the summary sheet, we have already applied, Travis County has already applied for nine arra grants totaling $5,534,333.
we have four grant applications in preparation.
at a minimum those will total $6,706,794.
we also have a big chunk of transportation funding coming to Travis County, not coming to the Travis County government, but coming in to Travis County from the arra that amounts to $122,759,627.
and there will be a breakdown of that later on where we talk about how much of this is actually coming to the county.
i've taken the different grant applications and grant funding streams and broken them into four categories, health and human services, justice and public safety, energy efficiency and conservation and transportation.
so in the health and human services area, we've already applied for a community development block grant and we've already applied for the emergency food and shelter program, $57,934.
those are both grants that the court applied for in March.
in the justice and public safety area, we've applied for the cops grant, which is the 12 additional sheriff's officers, $2,273,688.
and we've applied through a number of burn justice assistant grants or jag grants through the state, one for adult probation.
that number actually reflect the fact that it is a two-year grant request.
i think each year the grant is something like $370,000, so the two-year grant request is for $747,000.
and then you can see the other grants as well, including I might add, the sheriff's office collaboration with the police department, Austin police department and with the city of Pflugerville.
we are also -- court I think has also approved a grant request through capcog for our information coordination management grant that involves a number of justice and public safety agencies, including the county attorney's office, the district attorney's office, the sheriff's office and the city of manor.
in the area of energy efficiency and conservation, we have -- we're eligible for a grant of $4.498 million.
this is for the weatherization program.
i know that the court has also discussed this quite a bit.
we have not yet submitted a grant for that, but this is upcoming.
we also have the energy conservation and block grant.
this has been given to Travis County and you have been briefed on the proposal from facilities management to use that money for energy efficiency upgrades to some of our Travis County buildings.
in the area of transportation, I just wanted to show you the money -- the first slide you have there is the money coming through txdot.
the biggest element, of course, is the money for the u.s.
90, highway 183 interchange.
that's nine million dollars.
the txdot money totals $122 million.
and then we have transportation coming through campo.
as you can see, there's $687,047 allocated specifically to Travis County for overlay, upgrades of some of our existing roads, and then there's also money coming to the city of Austin and to some of the other jurisdictions here in Travis County, the city of Sunset Valley I know got some money, and a couple of other jurisdictions as well.
so the total campo money coming to Travis County is $690,795.
the money that -- with respect to the issues having to do with helping the services, transportation, energy efficiency and justice and public safety, the money that I've already described to you is just money coming through Travis County or to Travis County in the case of the transportation money, but there also is money coming to other governmental entities here in Travis County, and there is a handout that was prepared by vanessa from the community action network, which summarizes all the money coming to Travis County or coming in to the central Texas area, whether it's through the city of Austin or through Travis County or through some of the nonprofits who are direct providers of services and have received funding or have applied for funding under the stimulus package.
so this two-page handout is just a quick summary of what's going on here actually in the Travis County-city of Austin area.
and I'd be happy to answer if there are any questions about that.
i do want to just move on and talk a little bit about the intergovernmental collaboration effort.
since mid -- I guess it was mid March, there have been three meetings of an intergovernmental collaboration group composed of representatives from Travis County, the city of Austin, the Austin independent school district, Austin community college, the health care district, capital metro and the community action network.
with the intent that we would begin sharing information about what our different jurisdictions were doing with respect to looking for sources of money, devising projects for using that money, and eventually looking for opportunities to collaborate with each other in the best use of those monies.
so we've had three meetings so far.
we did sponsor community briefing that was actually organized by la cantera, but it was held on may 20th, 2009, some 200 community leaders and nonprofit organizations, staff people, came to that briefing in order to find out what was going on with the intergovernmental stimulus money.
at our last meeting, which was held last week, the steering committee, I'll use that phrase, the steering committee decided to put together intergovernmental working groups.
there were nine working groups created.
the idea was to put together subject matter experts in each of those areas and to begin exploring what grants were being applied for, what grants were available out there and what opportunities for collaboration we would have.
on the spreadsheet that I have given to you, the nine working groups and the members of those working groups are laid out.
i apologize for the tiny writing on it, but the city of Austin likes to waste paper even less than we do.
so this -- plant is for this intergovernmental collaboration group to meet probably sometime later this month or in early July for a briefing with the whole group together it will be about 60 or 70 people.
and then to break into the work groups and begin discussing specific grant opportunities that the different jurisdictions are looking for and specific opportunities for collaboration.
and we hope that that process will continue and that the collaboration will enrich and deepen as we go along.
for us here at the county, the next steps that are occurring, and this is the final slide on your presentation, there are additional arra grant applications coming to Commissioners court soon.
we continue to do research and to collaborate interdepartmentally.
i'm longing for grant opportunities -- I'm looking for grant opportunities and trying to research and prepare those.
there is a biweekly meeting of a coordinating group composed of people from the different county departments.
we've gotten good participation by the sheriff's office, the county attorney's office, many of the departments of the county as well as of course all the executive managers and their department staff.
and this intergovernmental working group with the city and the school district and a.c.c.
and others, we'll continue working over the next weeks and months as we try to maximize the impact of the federal stimulus money on the people of central Texas.
that's all I have.
i'm happy to answer any questions the court has.
>> this is just great work.
have we identified -- I know that these nine working groups are intergovernmental working groups.
these are all funders, is that correct?
or entities through which funding are passing?
>> that's exactly right.
and we have -- we put together these groups with the understanding that we may decide that other groups need to be represented.
we may invite other groups in, but we decided to postpone that until the first meeting of the working groups, at which the working groups themselves could decide, for instance, in the transportation infrastructure, we may decide that we need to have representatives of the campo staff participate in that working group.
so those sorts of decisions have been put off until we get all the subject matter experts in the room.
>> do these nine groups track at all with the issues areas in la cantera?
i mean -- in can, I mean, the issue area committees in c.a.n.?
>> I'm not advised.
i'll be glad to ask and get back with you about that.
>> so who is keeping up with the continued funding after federal dollars have been spent?
>> I think that with each of the specific grants that have been brought to the court or that are being reached, that is one of the questions being asked.
we would ask that that's part of the question that is made to the court and part of the information that the court has before it aproves a grant.
>> but I think when we do a summary, it ought to be on there too.
>> okay.
you know, as far as I know, I think pbo is tracking that sort of stuff.
i can make sure that's part of whatever information we provide to the court.
>> I think that's real important because -- and some of them, the commitment is zero.
>> yes, sir.
>> in others it's fairly substantial.
the other question is, in some of them, once the federal dollars go away, if you think that the program is effective, then at your discretion you can continue it.
>> right.
>> and some of them, though, I think there is a sort of absolute obligation.
>> yes, sir.
>> so we ought to know that.
>> yes, sir.
i think in the interdepartmental working groups, we have -- in our meetings we have been very clear about those kind of things.
we have tended to -- I don't want to speak for all the departments, but we've tended to stay away from grants where we were required to make a matching grant or some kind of up front commitment with a reimbursement later on just because we were going to be very careful about those kind of cash flow issues, and obviously looking out at the back end of the grant, was there some commitment to continue being on the grant itself.
so I think that our -- we sent our interdepartmental meetings, we have had those kind of conversations.
the auditor's office has been there.
we've had very good input and presence from the county attorney's office and from the purchasing people as well.
so those kind of issues are being raised this those conversations.
>> ms.
fleming, enlighten us.
>> well, in terms of the funding that's expected through health and human services, I just wanted to say that, judge, you're correct, that there is recognition that there is going to be some need for an investment from the Commissioners court.
certainly with the weatherization funds, I think that you've heard me allude to the fact that the administrative costs that we are able to draw from these grant funds is modest.
and to expend the dollars, you know -- of course, our goal is to expend all of the money to ramp up in such a way to be able to expend those dollars, will exacerbate current space issues that we have as well as the capacity of not only health and human services, but other departments such as auditing, purchasing, and even legal to process the various pieces of paper that will go along with this.
so as much as we can, we try to alert you to those issues, but we are still sort of in a place, especially with the state, where we don't know what we don't know.
there are some requirements that they are frankly still formulating with regard to what counts as job creation.
does job creation mean if we hire contractors, we've created jobs for them, or are we expected to maintain a certain number of positions internally once the grant goes away.
so we continue to seek out the answers, but they're coming in rather slow.
>> in that end, though, and you've brought up a good point.
a few good points, sherri.
here's what I'm having a little difficulty, and that is the up front money that the county will have to invest, in other words, to carry out the functions, especially in the receipt of stimulus package money.
now, if -- is there any possible way that each department can identify out of pocket expense for the county in lieu of -- even if there's reimbursement, in lieu of receiving stimulus package money through grants and stuff like that?
we still have to put this much up, even though it might be a reimbursement situation, but even so, you still have to have money.
and so I don't really know how the department is looking at this as far as what we'd have to spend to get.
and I say spend to get, in this application process.
there may be requirements that you have to spend to get money.
and I say get, I'm talking about the stimulus package money.
as we go through this process.
and right now I have no idea on what that spending amount is to get stimulus package money if that is a requirement as far as through this current process.
you apply through the grant process, of course.
there may be requirements.
i really don't know what all the requirements are.
there's probably a lot of other strings attached to receive funding and then you get it here on a reimbursement type situation.
how many guarantees are there when the county has put out money up front to get stimulus package money to be sent down from the arra setting type situation, how long will it take for us to get reimbursed, for example, if that is the case?
so there are still a lot of unanswered, unclear questions in my mind as far as when we look at this overall, the amount of money that we'll have to come out of pocket up front before we can receive.
so those are my concerns.
and right now I have no idea, no one can show me a clear example that it took them this long to get money from the stimulus package, money that's made available.
i haven't heard anyone say, well, it's going to take this amount of time to get it guaranteed.
i haven't heard that yet.
i'm waiting to hear that because this is still money that has to come from the general fund or some way of funding up front to receive or to get stimulus package money.
>> Commissioner, I can't answer your question as far as the stimulus money, but I can certainly speak to our experience with the Texas department of housing and community affairs.
you may be aware that this year health and human services and Travis County was entitled to receive over $3 million in utility assistance money through just unbelievable delays on the state side.
we did not receive a contract for those funds until just about a month ago, I believe.
so we were almost six months in to the grant year before we could secure a contract.
so I believe -- and I think the numbers -- and rodney may know the numbers better than I do, but I think we were somewhere between 250,000 to $400,000 in permission to continue where we have advanced dollars from the health and human services budget so that we could continue to provide those services.
so now that is -- that is a process that we have engaged in for an ongoing grant.
this is a grant that we receive annually, so the court has been patient in authorizing us to continue each year, and providing those services and reclassing those expenses once the grant was approved.
i think the question will be for -- for example, for weatherization, whether the court will authorize the department to move forward and begin the implementation of the project prior to an actual contract agreement being approved.
that would be a question we will have to come back to you with for your consideration.
>> and that's a good example.
a lot of these arenas have not yet been tested because of new circumstances.
of course, that's been one that we've been dealing with for awhile, which is a real good example of what I'm trying to bring across.
so my whole point, I guess, going through a budget year, that we haven't even started yet, I'm concerned that -- I'm concerned about a lot of things.
and I guess pbo may be able to speak maybe to some of my concerns and how will we address some of these concerns during the budget cycle.
>> well, addressing the budget, the concerns in the budget cycle is part of the concerns that pbo has.
we have -- we'll be rolling out next a spreadsheet that will give a snapshot of what the county's commitment will be for arra grants going forward.
so you will have that picture for the grants that have been approved to date.
>> I think when we see a summary of various grants, we need to know what the county's commitment s I recall the cops grant, there is pretty much an absolute commitment to continue that funding, right?
>> right.
>> but we understood that for that grant.
but as we've heard different categories of funding, the obligation really kind of differs program to program.
and like weatherization, the contract doesn't bother me as much as knowing what the specifics are.
and if all we need to do is just make sure that we meet financial reporting and audit requirements, that's fine.
if there's a commitment to continue, we will need to know up front what we're getting into.
and one way to be sure that we're -- we remain mindful of that is every time we see a support, we see that commitment on there.
>> and it is pbo's intent to provide you with that on a weekly basis just like we do for the other grant information.
that we've done is we've expanded that, so you will see going out beyond the granting period if there is a county commitment, you will see what that commitment is or an estimate of what that commitment is based on what we know today.
one of the things that we're concerned about or at least I'm concerned about as it relates to arra money is a prioritization of what we're going to go after because these dollars are going to hit at various times throughout the year or next two years, depending on when the granting period opens and closes.
there may be dollars that you want to chase later down the road in lieu of dollars that you want to chase up front.
and so for me, knowing what that big picture is is equally as important as what the county's commitment is, because the cops grant is a very good example.
we went into it with our eyes open knowing that for two years we're going to get this funding, but we're on the hook for the subsequent years.
and that's important to know because then we can track what the county's commitment is, and from a budgetary perspective start to plan for the county's commitment now rather than have it hit us later on down the road.
so I think that's very important.
you aprovenned a grant this -- you approved this grant this morning for energy efficiency.
i believe it was a 2.2-million-dollar project.
the county's commitment in addition to that is much greater than that 2.2 million or it's a little less than -- I think the total was about three and a half million.
so the county's commitment is about 1.3 million.
that's a one-time expense.
and it's a much needed project, but my concern is ensuring that you know going into these things what the county's commitment is, not only for the current year, but for the years to come because I think that's important.
>> yeah.
>> the flip side of that very same point, and something I've harped on in the part and the arra money in terms of grants is the performance measuring aspect of it so that we can prove up the community benefit of having not only drawn down this federal tax money, but also augmenting it with our -- if not our cash, our personnel resources and other resources to make it happen.
so dietz, are these nine issue area groups, intergovernmental issue area groups looking at tracking that performance in a big picture way?
>> yeah.
i think the intent of the group -- I think the intent of the steering committee, which is people like greg canally from the city, mel waxler from the aisd, I think the intent of the steering committee is that these groups would look at all these issues, what's the real benefit we're going to give to our communities, what are the best funding streams for that, what are the best ways to -- what gives us the most bang for the buck?
those sorts of things.
i think the intent in the work group is to really explore all those questions.
>> and will c.a.n.
be digesting that information into their dashboard of indicators of community health so that we can have an ongoing discussion of how this infusion worked?
or frankly in some cases also tell the story of how it didn't work if that story needs to be told as well.
>> I think that's part of the plan.
>> I think we need a note or two about the county's rationale for pursuing these funds also.
in the cops great it was clear to me that we had a law enforcement shortage and we would have to meet that at some point anyway.
we talked about it for several years.
and this energy grant that we just approved and applying for, we would have to spend the flee and a half million dollars -- three and a half million dollars at some point because the system is more than 20 years old and has caused some serious problems for us.
so the opportunity to get more than two million dollars of federal money, which we have to supplement by 1.2, you know, means we don't spend 3.5.
so that rationale makes all the sense in the world, but if somebody approaches me late one night three months from now, it would help for me to be able to say, we applied for that grant because.
and if what I got in mind really is just a couple of words that would explain justification?
>> to the extent that the Commissioners court would like pbo's involvement, I just want to point out that sherri mentioned auditor's office and the county attorney and purchasing, but I do want to point out to the Commissioners court that pbo does play a role in this process.
and that role is equally burdensome for pbo as well.
now, we have taken on the responsibility of putting this together in term of this long-term implication information for the Commissioners court and we'll be happy to continue to do so.
but there is a burden -- I guess the point I'm trying to make is there is an administrative burden.
it's not just a departmental receiving the funds issue.
there is an administrative burden.
and I think susan --
>> is that why you didn't include pbo?
>> I'm sorry.
>> she thought y'all would see it as a burden rather than as a service opportunity.
>> yeah.
>> [ laughter ]
>> sherri says us more as a hindrance than a help sometimes.
that's okay.
>> you cannot find that in writing anywhere.
>> no, she will never put that in writing.
that's the role we play.
>> those are good points.
>> we are interested at least from my perspective, and I've harped on this a number of times to a number of people, we are interested in looking at the arra money, and I think if it's available to us, we should definitely try to get it if it makes sense for the county.
and so prioritizing what money is out there and how we're going about it and what the long-term impact of the county would be is important to know.
>> well, that's why -- one of the reasons I wanted to make sure that you guys are aware of that.
and that's why I keep harping on what impact will it have on the budget.
i know I've said it continuous.
i think everybody else has probably echoed same thing is what kind of impact is it going to have?
some things make sense to do right now and some things can wait.
however, prioritization I think will be very legitimate in my mind as we go through this process.
so I have no problem with it as far as that's concerned.
i just want to make sure that I have a hand's on approach as we go through this process.
and I'm going to holler at pbo and say listen, how is this going to affect the upcoming budget this year, next year and everything else?
how will it impact one way or the other when it comes to this?
it's not going to bother me at all to give you a holler.
>> we'll be happy to provide that to the extent we can, Commissioner.
>> thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:41 PM