Polk Family Community Outreach urges flexibility for Monmouth public-safety fee aid

Polk Family Community Outreach staff told the Monmouth City Council on June 3 that the city’s public-safety fee has funded emergency utility and housing assistance for Monmouth residents but that limits on how the money may be used have constrained help for some households.

Nicole Walker Semby, resource center coordinator at the Full Community Resource Center, and Stephanie Gilbert, program manager for Family Community Outreach, said the group has distributed roughly $10,000 a year from city allocations and has used that money to support emergency needs. "Generally, we've received about $10,000 annually from the city to help just with assistance for customers in emergency situations," Semby said.

The presentation matters because the council will review the public-safety fee as part of the June 17 budget process; outreach staff asked the council to consider greater flexibility to stretch funds as other state and federal programs face uncertainty. "As you determine what next steps are for the public safety fee and those funds collected already, we just are hoping that you can consider the benefits of having some increased flexibility of how to spend funding," Gilbert said.

Resource-center staff described how the $10.25 per-incident fee that the city began assessing in November has been included in broader assistance cases rather than being the single reason people seek help. Semby said the center had paid about $256 to cover fees since November and that, in practice, clients typically come for help with utilities or deposits rather than asking only for the $10.25 payment. She also described the center’s approach of bundling multiple funding streams — Community Action Agency, Energy Assistance, state and foundation grants and local partners such as the Dallas Ministerial Association and Family Promise — to cover larger bills.

Councilors asked how the Resource Center would respond if the public-safety fee were eliminated. Semby said the center receives about $10,000 annually in city funding and would use its existing pool to address those costs but that doing so would reduce funds available for other assistance activities.

Council members and staff explored barriers to use, including the fee’s narrow allowable uses, limited bilingual staff capacity on high-demand days, and the impending uncertainty of Energy Assistance funds. Semby said Energy Assistance helped roughly 117 Monmouth families last year with city utility bills and that funding uncertainty could increase local demand. She also explained the center’s usual rule that clients may receive assistance once per calendar year, with some programs (HRSN) providing up to six months of support.

No formal council action was taken; councilors and staff directed that the public-safety fee be reviewed during the June 17 budget discussion so council members can decide whether to change the fee’s permitted uses.

The council thanked staff for the report and accepted an annual report from the outreach program for further review.