City discusses uses for $53M in aid

Schenectady’s civic leaders urge public to provide input

How will Schenectady spend its $53 million in federal coronavirus relief funds?

Officials said the city is continuing to to sift through federal guidance for how the aid can be utilized.

Spending on infrastructure, including water, sewer and broadband, is a sure bet, Mayor Gary Mccarthy told the City Council on Tuesday.

But further decisions await clearer federal directives.

“It’s still not clear in a good summary on what we can spend the money on,” Mccarthy said.

Officials discussed the spending for the first time publicly this week since the funds were announced in early March.

Yet unlike the city of Albany, which formed a task force to help guide the allocation of $80 million, and Syracuse, where Mayor Ben Walsh has unveiled a plan for how to spend the city’s $123 million on at least 30 separate initiatives, according to syracuse.com, Schenectady continues to take a wait-and-see approach.

Interim guidelines released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury last month advises localities they have “substantial discretion to use the award funds in the ways that best suit the needs of your constituents” — as long the usage fits into four categories.

Necessary investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure is one allowable use.

The others appear to give cities broad latitude, including a directive that allows relief to be dispersed to “respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impacts.”

Guidance allows funds to be used to “respond to workers performing es

sential work” during the pandemic to provide “premium pay” to eligible workers of the recipient, or by providing grants to employers that have eligible workers who performed essential work.

Civic leaders in Schenectady said public input is critical.

“I always think it’s best practice to clue in the community in decisionmaking like this, and ensure monies trickle down to those who need it the most,” said the Rev. Nicolle Harris, president of the Schenectady NAACP, on Wednesday.

Tom Carey, president of Schenectady United Neighborhoods, agreed investments in city infrastructure — including parks, senior programming and bicycle and pedestrian facilities — are needed.

But the city has a tendency to be secretive at times, he said, and a clear public process is needed to help guide the spending.

“What the city needs to do is what a lot of cities have done and have meaningful public input in how this money is spent,” Carey said on Wednesday. “They should be getting input from the people most impacted, including businesses and disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

Debate is already percolating in Albany, where a group of housing nonprofits sent the city’s task force a letter requesting $20 million for preserving and revitalizing historically underserved neighborhoods.

Mccarthy said the city does want to engage the public, but would prefer firmer federal guidance in order to avoid unnecessary confusion.

Were the public to debate ineligible projects, “it does waste people’s time and builds a level of frustration into the process,” he said.

Ideally, the city will work with the city school district and Schenectady County, each of whom also received funding, to identify mutually beneficial projects.

“The way we can really make the money work is to do partnerships with the county and school,” Mccarthy said.

Relief funds can be used to plug deficits as a result of pandemic-induced revenue shortfalls.

The city ended last year with a $8 million budget deficit, a number the city narrowed by implementing a hiring freeze and reducing nonessential expenditures.

Officials expressed optimism some of those vacant staff positions could be restored.

The city took out a $7 million bond last year to cover expenses, and funds cannot be used to pay down debt.

The $53 million in stimulus is a slight reduction of the original $57.8 million announcement. Half of the funds, or $26.5 million, have already been deposited in city accounts, with the second installment scheduled to be disbursed next June.

City Finance Commissioner Anthony Ferrari said the remainder may be withheld until Congress passes an infrastructure bill, one of President Joe Biden’s top policy priorities.

“If they do pass that bill, they may claw back the other half of the money next year,” Ferrari said.

The American Rescue Plan funding allocated $350 billion to state and local governments, and City Council discussed its usage exactly one year to the day after now-senate Majority Leader Charles

Schumer, D-new York, stumped in City Hall to push for its passage — and at the first public meeting in the chambers since the onset of the pandemic last March.

Visitors will now be met with increased security measures, including a body scanner and a security detail made up of retired law enforcement officers.

Assistant Police Chief Michael Seber asked lawmakers to authorize $50,000 to hire “special patrol officers,” with funds hopefully coming from the relief package.

The city has also already flagged another project: $150,000 for the Boys & Girls Club, which has an agreement with the city to provide staffing for pools and other recreational activities.