The Anchorage Assembly late Tuesday approved Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson’s proposal for spending more than $51 million in federal relief money, but with a few changes.
In a special meeting to consider allocating the first half of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds, Assembly members passed the plan in a 7-3 vote.
More than 55 line items in the plan cover an array of programs, organizations and Anchorage nonprofits to relieve economic hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assembly members weighed concerns about getting the aid out quickly while spending the money wisely. Members and the public in attendance raised a few concerns over the spending that were reminiscent of a controversy over the spending of federal relief dollars last summer.
[Previous coverage: Anchorage will get an estimated $100 million in new COVID-19 relief funds. Now officials must decide what to do with it.]
Where the money is going
The handful of changes to the acting mayor’s proposal include a $437,500 allocation for the Alaska Black Caucus to acquire an office space to provide services to Black, Indigenous and people of color who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
The Assembly also provided extra funds for a South Anchorage food pantry. Another change diverted some funds to Covenant House Alaska for emergency rapid rehousing of homeless youths, among other changes.
A large chunk of the package, about $21.5 million, will replenish several existing city programs. Most provide direct economic relief, such as grants to small businesses and nonprofits. City officials say the money will allow those programs to clear their waitlists.
In an interview before the meeting, Jason Bockenstedt, chief of staff to the acting mayor, estimated that more than 800 waitlisted businesses will each receive a $10,000 grant through the small business stabilization fund.
In addition, the package allocates about $7.3 million to various avenues for addressing housing and homelessness issues.
More than $14 million will go to making up city revenue lost during the pandemic, allocated to various programs and infrastructure, Bockenstedt said. That portion of the money is based on a formula in guidelines from the federal Treasury Department, he said.
“That money has a wider array of uses, and essentially whatever we would have spent that money on as a government is eligible,” he said.
That’s where a $2 million investment in the Anchorage Community Development Authority — a quasi-municipal agency — is allowed, for example, and the $3.5 million Parks and Recreation Department project to mitigate the effects of beetle kill on woodlands, he said.
A much smaller portion of the package, about $700,000, will go to establish new programs and job positions that will provide technical assistance to organizations and families in Anchorage in accessing federal and state relief funds.
Bockenstedt also noted that Anchorage will see much more federal relief money beyond the city’s $103 million, through direct assistance to businesses, programs and families, he said.
“Our amount is meant to plug some holes that are still there as a result of the pandemic,” Bockenstedt said.
Some called on city to wait, others urged speed
The package was proposed by Quinn-Davidson’s office just last week during an Assembly meeting, and some Assembly members and residents who attended the meeting took issue with the speed of the approval.
Assembly members Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy, who voted against the package, called for more time for public input and for vetting of each allocation.
Member John Weddleton proposed splitting the package and passing funds for only the already existing programs, and allowing more time for consideration of Anchorage’s other needs, he said. Other members voted that proposal down.
“Every single thing on here needs to be done yesterday,” Weddleton said. “... But there’s also thousands of others that demand to be on this list, that have to be done. This is such a paltry list.”
Some concerns voiced Tuesday echoed the outpouring of criticism last summer over transparency in the city’s process in spending CARES Act funds. At the time, the city proposed spending some of those federal funds on purchasing three buildings for homeless and treatment services.
The outcry eventually prompted the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General to intervene and review the plan, though the city was later advised by the Treasury’s secretary of a legal route to spend the funds on the buildings.
Kennedy on Tuesday night asked the administration whether it believes every project on the list would pass another screening from the Treasury.
Municipal Attorney Kate Vogel responded that she did not see any “red flags with any of the programs that are in this package as discussed and amended today.”
During a period for public comment before the vote, several residents urged the Assembly to get the money out as quickly as possible.
Amanda Metivier, a director at the Alaska Child Welfare Academy, called on the Assembly to pass the proposal and allocate $200,000 to her organization to help recruit more foster families. The state lost more than 100 during the pandemic, she said, and many children are in need of foster homes.
“The proposal I believe can’t wait, because children and families have been suffering the entire pandemic,” she said.
Others who testified Tuesday called on the Assembly to postpone voting, asked for more public involvement and said they felt blindsided.
Weddleton responded to some of those criticisms during a later discussion, saying people surprised by the proposal “weren’t paying attention.”
The Assembly held its first work session and town hall on the funds in March.
“We have had four work sessions, three town halls with many people involved — hundreds of emails,” Weddleton said.
Some testifiers also said the relief funds should not be allocated until an elected mayor takes office July 1.
“We don’t have an elected mayor — and to give a non-elected mayor authorization to spend $52 million of our money without giving us any adequate input?” a woman asked the Assembly.
Kennedy and Allard also argued that the incoming mayor should have some input.
“It seems to me it would be a common courtesy to allow the incoming, newly elected mayor the opportunity to participate in these decisions,” Kennedy said.
Dave Bronson currently leads in the runoff election, and it is unlikely opponent Forrest Dunbar will recover enough votes to win. Assembly certification of the runoff election is scheduled for May 25.
Felix Rivera, chair of the Assembly, in an interview Tuesday disagreed with those concerns and said it’s critical to get the money out the door rapidly.
“The Assembly has been working on this since March. We’re ready to go,” Rivera said. “There are important needs in our community that can’t wait until July first.”
The next mayoral administration will be responsible for helping allocate more than $51 million in additional federal relief in 2022, Rivera said.