The City Council is considering legislation outlining use of nearly $40 million in federal funds Honolulu received during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To that end, Resolution 299 seeks to reprogram the American Rescue Plan Act’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery funds toward social services, affordable housing, law enforcement and homeless services programs, among others.
Under the ARPA funds there are at least two portions — or tranches — of remaining money, equating to almost $80 million, the city says.
Resolution 299 looks to reallocate Tranche 2 money — an amount over $39.7 million — toward what the city describes as “revenue replacement” projects as well as dispense hazard pay to eligible city workers employed during the pandemic.
According to the resolution, some of those projects include:
>> $5 million toward grants to nonprofit organizations to assist the homeless or those at risk of being homeless, including individuals and families and/or inpatient services to address substance abuse or mental health issues.
>> $5 million to develop city housing to service the 30% area median income-and-below population — for a single person, that equates to an annual income of $27,510 or less.
>> $2.5 million to encourage the building of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, by improving the permitting process and supporting homeless kauhale or other models of communal or community-based housing in districts outside of
urban Honolulu.
>> $2.5 million to support public-private partnerships to advance seawater air conditioning and green infrastructure projects.
>> $1 million to fund the current expense for the Honolulu Police Department patrol division.
>> $1 million to expand “stabilization facilities” involving HPD and the state Department of Health to create a transition for severely mentally ill people and those with substance abuse issues to become “stable and get into longer-term care.”
>> $5 million to fund the Home Ownership Assistance Grant program to
support households and communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-
19 pandemic.
>> $150,000 to fund a community-based, multi-agency approach — city, state and federal law enforcement services — to prevent, control and reduce violent crime, drug abuse and gang activity in Council District 9, which spans from Waipahu to portions of Ewa Beach. Council member Augie Tulba currently represents District 9.
During the Council’s Committee on Budget meeting on Thursday, city Managing Director Mike Formby told the panel that as far as hazard pay was concerned, negotiations with city employee unions are pending.
“We will still have the
capacity, through the budget process, at some point, to use the appropriated money to pay hazard pay,” Formby said. “The difficulty will be if the figure is different than what we allocate; we may not have the appropriate appropriation.”
He added that “the fallback to that is there’s talk of a payout over two years, which means if we don’t have enough the first year, then we could look at an appropriation the following year.”
Formby said the city was “going through our process to recover (and) reallocate our funds for Tranche 1” — another $40 million out of the total $80 million in pandemic moneys.
Ultimately, the panel voted to recommend the new resolution to the full Council for review and approval.
Before the meeting,
Council member Radiant Cordero, chair of the Budget Committee, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that eligible city workers deserved hazard pay.
“Our city employees
provided critical services throughout the pandemic, and we must do everything we can to ensure they are appropriately compensated for the additional risks they endured in the service of our city,” Cordero said via email.
Meantime, she noted much of the COVID-19 money is “earmarked specifically for recovery efforts stemming from the pandemic.”
In November, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the Council began discussion over the use of pandemic-era federal funds.
Ian Scheuring, the
mayor’s deputy communications director, previously told the Star-Advertiser that city plans for “moneys from Tranche 1 — $40 million — and Tranche 2 — $39 million — will be used to pay down city expenses, which will create more capacity in the FY25 budget.”
He added that the city’s revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, per U.S. Treasury guidelines, was calculated as approximately $246 million in 2020 and $139 million in 2021.
Meanwhile, Council Chair Tommy Waters also approved of using ARPA money toward hazard pay. In 2023 the Council supported that idea with the passage of another formal resolution.
Adopted in June, Resolution 114 urged the city to provide “hazard or premium pay of up to $13 per hour to eligible city workers who performed essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency by utilizing a portion of the available” ARPA money.
The Council’s prior legislation also pushed for the city “to negotiate with the unions representing city employees to establish reasonable and comprehensive provisions related to eligibility for premium or hazard pay.”
According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, ARPA funds must be obligated for new, eligible uses by Dec. 31.
And it adds that jurisdictions have until Dec. 31, 2026, to fully use those funds — money meant
for costs incurred after March 3, 2021.
