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City reports $42M in COVID operational spending and controller reports first FEMA claim of $26.5M
Summary
City budget staff reported about $42 million in COVID-related operational spending, including $9 million for PPE and $5.7 million for noncongregate sheltering; Risa Sandler of the Controller's Office said FEMA reimbursement requests are being submitted biweekly and the first request was for $26.5 million.
At the April 22 Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Kelly Kirkpatrick of the Mayor’s Budget Office provided an update on COVID-related city spending and the city’s approach to reimbursement and revenue shortfalls.
Kirkpatrick said the city has recorded roughly $42,000,000 in COVID-related operational spending, driven mostly by additional salary and benefit costs for staff assigned to the response. She said the city had spent about $9,000,000 on personal protective equipment and approximately $5,700,000 for non-congregate sheltering and related homeless-services costs, including initial deposits and lease costs for hotels.
Kirkpatrick also summarized state and federal relief: she noted a state-targeted program that includes $75,000,000 from the state and $50,000,000 from nonprofit foundations (a $125,000,000 total pool) intended for undocumented adults; Kirkpatrick cited an estimate that about 150,000 undocumented adults would receive a one-time $500 payment with a $1,000 per-household cap.
She relayed a Legislative Analyst’s Office projection that California could face a roughly $35,000,000,000 budget shortfall and said the city is pursuing deferrals and other local relief measures. Kirkpatrick said the mayor and treasurer announced a four-month extension of the business registration fee deadline (estimated $49,000,000 impact affecting nearly 90,000 businesses) and further delays to unified license billing that represent about $14,000,000 in fee relief.
Risa Sandler of the Controller's Office explained the FEMA reimbursement process and said the controller’s team is submitting requests every two weeks. "I can tell you that the first one was for 26,500,000.0 and I need to check on the subsequent," she said; the office told the committee it would provide more detailed reporting at the next meeting. The committee requested ongoing updates on the amounts submitted and reimbursements received.
The committee took no final budget actions but moved routine agenda items and asked staff to return with additional data on unemployment and reimbursement amounts at future meetings.
