ARPA funds and grant applications headline Staunton City Council meeting on Thursday

Akhil Ganesh, Staunton News Leader
·4 min read

STAUNTON — Money makes the world go 'round, and that is true of Staunton City Council's agenda for their regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday night. Of the four listed items on the regular meeting agenda, three deal with budget amendments or funding sources throughout the city.

Here's a look at what Staunton residents can expect from Thursday's meeting.

ARPA funds making their way into the budget

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) granted Staunton almost $13 million dollars to spend on various projects in the city. The city has already allocated over $3.2 million of that money, and the funds must be allocated for projects by the end of 2024.

To that effect, Staunton City Council will consider a budget amendment that deals with over $9.7 million dollars, mostly in ARPA fund appropriations. The amendment was originally presented and put to a public hearing at council's last meeting on Feb. 9.

The budget changes are as follows:

  • General Fund: $113,099

  • Capital Improvements Fund: $7,508,326

  • Community Development: $5,000

  • Water Fund: ($75,000)

  • Environmental Fund: $965,000

  • Stormwater Fund: $1,200,000

The $75,000 being removed from the water fund is actually to re-allocate the funding for the Uniontown small area plan in the general fund. Only the $5,000 appropriation for the community development fund does not deal with ARPA funds.

Other than Uniontown, there is also additional appropriations in the general fund for the West End small area plan.

The capital improvements fund includes investing almost $1 million into Montgomery Hall Park, along with $200,000 for a Gypsy Hill Park bathroom refresh and $1.2 million for the Gypsy Hill stream restoration. Other projects include:

  • Moving and renovation costs for the regional animal shelter

  • Renovations to Moxie Stadium

  • Library roof replacement

  • Building security improvements

  • Juvenile and Domestic Courts relocation expenses

  • Two new fire pumpers

  • Two new dump trucks

The new dump trucks are of particular note, as allocations to the environmental fund are set to set up standardize the city's refuse collection and move the centralized recycling center away from Gypsy Park. We will have more details on that change in a future story.

The council will also receive an update for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023 during their work session from Chief Financial Officer Jessie Moyers.

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Don't take it for granted: Pair of funding grants up for discussion

Staunton City Council will also consider authorizing city staff to apply for a pair of separate grants that require local match funding. One grant deals with the school resource officer position at Shelburne Middle School, while the other provides funding for a number of local creative organizations.

Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services FY 2024 School Resource Officer Incentive Grant Program

Currently, the SRO position at Shelburne Middle School is fully funded by this grant through June 30, but the city is required to submit a new application for continued funding for fiscal year 2024. The difference in this year's round of funding is that Staunton must contribute matching funds based on a composite index of localities ability to pay.

The total amount of money for the position is $87,705, with the shares as follows:

  • City share: $34,793

  • DCJS share: $52,912

The SRO at Shelburne was initially filled by an existing patrol officer who usually wouldn't be in the position. The city's share of the grant would be funded by the existing salary of that officer.

Virginia Commission for the Arts 2023-2024 Creative Communities Partnership Grant Application

This grant is also not a new one for Staunton, as the city has gotten funding for three art organizations in the past: ShenanArts, the Stonewall Brigade Band, and the Staunton Augusta Art Center.

The city plans to once again apply for those three organizations, requesting the maximum of $4,500. That amounts to $1,500 per organization. This may not be the eventual money that is paid out by the state.

This is a partnership grant, which means the city would have to equally match whatever funding comes from the state and account for it in their upcoming budget cycle. Staunton can rescind the request at a later date if they remove any of the items from the budget.

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Quick hitters

  • The city will receive an update on the special election set for November 7 during its work session.

  • New assistant city manager Amanda Kaufman will likely be appointed to a number of committees as she assumes her new role.

The meeting will start at Staunton City Hall with a work session beginning at 6:30 p.m. followed by the council's regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will also be live-streamed via Zoom and is accessible on the city's website.

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—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton City Council to consider ARPA-filled budget amendment Thursday