SCHENECTADY -- The Schenectady City Council is poised to choose between purchasing a new snowplow truck and adding funding to the city's summer youth employment program with the city's final $140,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
The city faces a Dec. 31 deadline to allocate the last of the $52.9 million in federal COVID relief funding it received during the pandemic, with the recipients required to spend their funds by the end of 2026.
With the city finance department recommending the city claw back $140,000 in funding from the $500,000 allocated to the nonprofit COCOA House, the council has scheduled a special meeting on Friday night at 5 p.m. to determine how the money would be spent if taken back.
In January, the council amended an ARPA application from COCOA House to allow the group to use ARPA funding to pay for salaries for new and existing staff.
COCOA House had been awarded $500,000 by the council in September 2022 for a project to expand its site at 869 Stanley St. in order to provide more programming opportunities for at-risk youth in the city.
With the deadline for the city to expend ARPA funds fast approaching, the city finance department has determined that COCOA House will not be able to spend the full $500,000 within the time limits set by ARPA, with the department recommending to the council that the money would best be used for other city needs.
"They're looking at some of the projections and questioning whether or not they would be able to spend that money," Mayor Gary McCarthy said. "It's still being reviewed."
A pair of competing resolutions appeared on the agenda for the council's Monday night meeting that alternatively would spend the $140,000 on a new snowplow truck or to expand the city's summer youth employment initiative.
The plow proposal was submitted to the council by General Services Commissioner Paul LaFond, while the summer program funding proposal was first raised by Councilman Damonni Farley during the fall budget negotiations, as he sought to increase the program's funding in 2025 from its current level of $150,000 to $300,000.
The majority of the council expressed support in the fall for using any unexpended ARPA funds to bolster the youth program, with Farley subsequently voting against the approved $116 million budget after the expanded funding for the summer program was not included.
During Monday's meeting, the council tabled the competing resolutions and opted to hold Friday's special meeting to work through the funding options.
During the Friday meeting, the council will first have to determine if they will recoup the proposed $140,000 in funding from the COCOA House award and then whether the money will be used for the plow or the summer program.
"It's going to be either or," City Council President Marion Porterfield said after Monday's meeting.
With the city facing a Dec. 31 deadline to allocate the funding, Porterfield said the council had to come to a decision during the Friday meeting.
COCOA House Executive Director William Rivas told the board during Monday's meeting that there had been miscommunication between the city and the nonprofit over the timeline for when the group had to expend its funds, with the organization believing it had until the end of 2026 to spend the $500,000 that was allocated.
"It was recently just brought to my attention, literally in the last few days, that the ARPA contract allocation is supposed to end on Dec. 31 [2024]," Rivas said. "That's not what was explained to us. So we have hired staff and we do have resumes to hire more staff."
The Jan. 22 council resolution amending the original COCOA House allocation noted that the funds shall be dispersed in an amount not to exceed $200,000 per year by the organization.
"There's been a lot of confusion about the timeline and how we're able to use [the funds]," Rivas said. "Either way, myself and my board are committed to making a decision and working with the city as to what works best for everyone."