Ruggiero to propose resolution to give Hospice $225,000

Aug. 19—WATERTOWN — Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Lisa A. Ruggiero is planning to introduce a resolution Monday that would give $225,000 to Hospice of Jefferson County in support of the facility's recently completed renovations and expansion.

The money would come out of the city's American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Documents from the city show that all of the city's ARPA funds are currently allocated in other projects, which is $22,265,728. There is currently a balance of around $3.6 million, but that is to go towards the disinfectant byproduct project at the water treatment facility, and held for other projects should costs increase. The money was allocated during last year's budget, and was re-allocated in June due to projects costing more than originally thought. And the City Council wanted to use some of the money for the disinfectant byproduct project, City Manager Kenneth A. Mix said.

"Even though they haven't taken any formal action to say that's where the money is going to go, that was the whole idea," Mix said.

In August 2021, council members had decided that roughly the first half of the $22 million in ARPA funding will only go toward city "high priority water projects" that were outlined in a City Council work session on how the federal funding should be spent in a 3-2 vote.

Then-council member Ryan Henry-Wilkinson introduced a resolution to put a hold on funding for outside projects until 2022 so the city could decide whether to fund them and council member Sarah V. Compo Pierce and Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith were in favor of the resolution in order to give other agencies a chance to ask for funding.

In June, the Northern New York Community Foundation announced that Hospice of Jefferson County would receive $222,500 to help recover costs associated with its recent resident facility expansion, and specifically the design upgrades, which include enhanced ventilation and filtration to properly care for patients and safeguard from airborne infections such as COVID-19.

NNYCF announced in June that eight organizations received $419,465 in grant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act COVID Recovery Program to help organizations that serve county residents.

The county had partnered with NNYCF to administer the federal grant program and steward ARPA State and Local Recovery Funds in accordance with United States Treasury guidelines.

"I thought that the city should step up and do its part to help as well because they definitely are still short of reaching their fundraising goal. So I wanted to address it and I think it would help them be able to get closer to closing the gap that they have," Ruggiero said.

Kathy Arendt, director of marketing and research for Hospice said that 85% of patients are city residents.

Ruggiero said that number "stuck with" her."

Ruggiero said she feels this is the right thing to do for Hospice.

She said she believes every family has someone who has used Hospice services.

"I think just about, anybody could think of somebody that they know that was under Hospice care," she said. "I truly believe that we should do this... To me, I think it's the honorable thing to do for Hospice."

Council members Cliff Olney and Patrick Hickey both say at this point they would support the resolution.

Olney said he supports it because of the services Hospice provides for people.

"I'm absolutely in favor of it," he said.

Hickey said with the information he has now, he will also be supporting the resolution.

"I'm in support of that resolution," he said.

Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith said that he doesn't believe that's the intended use of government funds with all of the projects that need to be done in the city. Mix said the high priority projects include the water line projects, because some of them break every year, and the $3 million that was put toward the disinfectant byproduct project.

"That absolutely has to be done," Mix said of the $3 million project. "Not necessarily with ARPA funds, but its a project that has to be done."

"Hospice does a great job. Nobody can argue that Hospice is not a great service, doesn't provide a great benefit, but so doesn't DPAO, so doesn't a ton of not-for-profit organizations, and how can you say one is better than the other," Smith said.

Smith said that he and his wife support Hospice on a personal level, but with the projects that need to be done and the amount of money they'll cost, in addition to fiscal issues the city is going to deal with, "to start giving money away is not fiscally responsible."

Ruggiero's mayoral opponent, current Councilwoman Sarah V. Compo Pierce, said her concerns are with allocating city funds to nonprofits.

Her concern is that the city would have to give nonprofits a fair shot.

"I think that if you give to one not-for-profit organization, it sets a precedent and creates a bit of a slippery slope moving forward and an unfair playing field when it comes to supporting not-for-profits," she said.

Compo Pierce said there a lot of worthy nonprofits, including Hospice, but says after the city gives to one nonprofit, how could it say no to another that might have a critical need.

"I think before we allocate any funding for any new project, to any not-for-profits, to any kind of effort, you have to look at what needs to be addressed first, and in my mind, the first thing that we need to be addressing and be allocating taxpayer money on are the issues with our drinking water," she said.

Mix said other agencies did come forward in 2021 requesting funds from the city. He said he didn't know which nonprofits came forward, but said "it wasn't very many" before adding "we didn't really solicit from anybody either."

The city did not receive the DCIP, or Defense Critical Infrastructure Program funding, for the water treatment plant, the mayor said.

The city was denied a $20 million Department of Defense grant that would have helped it pay for the project to meet required federal water safety standards. Both Compo Pierce and Smith say at this point they would not be supporting the resolution and said another project would have to be cut because they say ARPA funds have been overextended.

Mix said that to avoid cutting a project, the city could fund a project using its fund balance. Water projects, however, cannot be shifted over to the fund balance. The water projects are expected to cost $8,013,950 in total.

"Instead of funding something with ARPA funds, it will take away from the fund balance," he said.

He said there is about $17 million to 18 million in the fund balance, and the city needs to keep about $11 million for operations and cash flow.

"We are pleasantly surprised and grateful that our previous request for ARPA funding might be realized through a resolution that Councilwoman Lisa Ruggerio will reintroduce during Monday's meeting. Enhancing ventilation systems to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne infections clearly meets the requirement for ARPA funding. The support of the City Council to award our request will be a wonderful gift to Hospice patients and staff. As she moves into the CEO role, Anna Patterson looks forward to continuing the positive work with City Council and City Officials," said Diana Woodhouse, CEO Hospice of Jefferson County in a prepared statement on Thursday.