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City compiles off‑cycle requests; staff proposes $1.04 million discretionary pool including Strategic Initiatives Fund for council to allocate
Summary
Staff presented eight off‑cycle requests totaling approximately $967,000 and proposed combining several budget adjustments with the Strategic Initiatives Fund to create a roughly $1.04 million pool council can use to respond to emergency requests or add awards to VCF, HOPS or CAF recommendations.
City staff told council they had received eight off‑cycle funding requests totaling about $967,000 and proposed a strategy that would make roughly $1.04 million available for council discretion by reconciling several budget items and increasing the Strategic Initiatives Fund to $500,000.
What staff presented: The list of off‑cycle requests included a $475,000 request from the Uhuru Foundation for a reentry housing expansion, an emergency request from Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless (BRAC) to replace lost HUD grant funding that supports permanent supportive housing, and eviction‑prevention and staffing requests from local housing authorities. Staff said the county had committed $100,000 toward one of the eviction‑prevention staffing requests and that the county had considered but not funded other items such as the Dogwood Veterans Memorial request.
How council could respond: Staff proposed increasing the existing Strategic Initiatives Fund (formerly an equity fund) to $500,000 annually and combining that with $234,860 from intergovernmental budget adjustments and other recovered amounts to create a discretionary pool — about $1.04 million in total — from which council could fund some or all off‑cycle requests. Staff cautioned against spending the entire pool immediately and asked council to identify priorities ahead of the budget wrap‑up session.
BRAC’s emergency request: Shayla Washington, BRAC’s executive director, told council that a HUD portal issue and a staffing transition prevented BRAC from timely submitting a renewal for Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) grant funding; BRAC said the missing grant covers rent and utility support for 34 chronically homeless clients with disabling conditions and described its request as an emergency.
Why it matters: Councilors signaled they prioritize eviction prevention and homelessness services if they must triage limited resources; staff said they had flagged the BRAC request as an emergency and recommended the council consider eviction-prevention and homeless services among top priorities.
Next steps: Staff asked councilors to submit lists of recommended additions or reallocations; staff will reconcile recommended items and present a final spreadsheet and options at the budget wrap‑up session scheduled in April.
