Bill Type and Number: Ordinance 2007-105
Sponsor: Council Member Hyde
Date of Introduction: January 23, 2007
Committee(s) of Reference: F
Date of Analysis: January 26, 2007
Type of Action: Ordinance Code amendment
Bill Summary: The bill amends Ordinance
Code Chapter 118 – Miscellaneous Appropriations – to establish specific
criteria establishing the eligibility for applicants to receive Public Service
Grant (PSG) appropriations from the City, and establishing a category of funding
for economic development activities that is separate from public service grants
to social service and community improvement recipients. The eligibility criteria are:
- Applicants must operate programs that tangibly
benefit specific priority populations, which the City shall determine and
advertise bi-annually; any exceptions to the “priority populations” policy
must be approved by 2/3 majority vote of the Council;
- Except for
appropriations for annual events or to serve needs deemed by the Council
to be of an on-going nature and which meet a Priority Population need, a
program should be funded for no more than 3 consecutive years;
- Unless the
Council determines that the program performs an essential function
otherwise required to be performed by the City, a PSG cannot account for
more than 24% of the operating budget of the program;
- No PSG shall
be awarded to a recipient which has been operating for less than three
years;
- PSG recipients
shall be required to be registered as a §501(c)(3) organization or a Florida
not-for-profit corporation;
- In addition to
the Human Services Council application, every applicant for a PSG shall
prepare an abstract for the use of
the Finance Committee that includes a general description of the work to
be performed and the outcomes desired, a list of specific activities to be
undertaken, the organization’s structure and capacity to do the work, the
measures to be used to track performance and measure outcomes, and an
explanation of the entity’s finances and plans for sustaining its work
beyond the receipt of the PSG
The
ordinance establishes several new general policies relating to public service
grants:
- Raises the funding
threshold below which a financial report rather than a simple audit is
required of a recipient from $50,000 to $100,000, and requires that audits
be based on the City’s fiscal year;
- Provides that funding
in any year from multiple city agencies shall be cumulative for purposes
of determining whether an agency needs to file a financial report or an
audit;
- Specifies that
equipment, property or tangible personal property purchased by a PSG
recipient with City funds must be non-consumable and shall be classified
as a capital purchase based on current City capitalization standards;
- Provides that the
City’s grant monitor department, rather than the grant recipient, shall
report mid-year changes in PSG uses to the Council Auditor’s Office.
- Shifts oversight
responsibility for Cultural Service Grants from the Parks and Recreation
Dept. to the Community Services Dept. or other department as assigned by
the Mayor;
The
bill creates a new category of Funding for Economic Development Activities separate
from the public service grant process for entities performing direct economic
development activities on behalf of the City.
These grants are to be funded by an allocation of revenue received from
the occupational license tax annually in the budget ordinance. Recipients of these economic development
allocations shall not be eligible to participate in the PSG process. The bill states that the intention of this
section is to be revenue-neutral, and that the amount of the annual PSG funding
pool shall be reduced by the amount allocated to economic development activity
grants from occupational license revenues.
Background Information: Revisions to Chapter 118
have been the subject of reviews over the past 2 years by the Community
Services Department, the Finance Committee, the Council Auditor’s Office and
the TRUE Commission. This bill
incorporates the numerous findings and recommendations into a comprehensive
reform of the chapter.
Policy Impact Area: Public Service Grants;
economic development contractual services funding
Fiscal Impact: Intended to be
revenue-neutral from the current funding level
Analyst: Clements