Los Gatos staff report $10M in federal awards; $4.2M pending reimbursement, council discusses social‑service impacts

Assistant Town Manager Katie Nomura told the council on Aug. 5 that the town has been awarded approximately $10 million in federal grant funding and that staff will return every two months with updates. Nomura said about $4.2 million remains outstanding for reimbursement; some of that represents funds the town has not yet expended and others are reimbursement requests pending processing.

Nomura said completed projects include the Los Gatos Creek Trail Connector and an open‑space vegetation management project; the town has received partial reimbursements and staff noted a recent EMPG reimbursement of roughly $14,000. Nomura and other staff walked the council through three vegetation/roadside grants: a FEMA open‑space grant (about $1.7 million grant with a $550,000 town match), a FEMA roadside vegetation grant (about $1.5 million grant with roughly $500,000 match) and a USDA roadside vegetation management grant (about $750,000 grant with a matching $750,000). Taken together, staff said those three grants total roughly $3.75 million in federal grants with about $1.7 million in town match (about $5.7 million combined).

Staff said the open‑space grant project is complete and largely expended, and the town has submitted reimbursement requests; the FEMA roadside reimbursement request was submitted in July and staff expect processing this fall (about a 45–60 day timeline). The USDA grant remains pending an extension with the local USDA office; staff said they continue to pursue that extension and recommended that the town push most urgently on the USDA timeline if it needs additional leverage.

Council members expressed two lines of concern. Vice Mayor Moore urged the council to think about prioritizing community grant dollars toward basic social services in light of recent federal budget proposals (HR 1) that she said could cut Medicaid and food assistance for residents; she noted the county projects significant revenue loss under the federal proposal and asked the council to consider how the town can protect vulnerable residents. Mayor Hootis and other council members said the town’s ability to directly replace county‑ and state‑administered programs is limited, but stressed the value of advocacy with county and state partners and suggested using the town’s community‑grants process to prioritize critical local services.

Staff agreed to provide updates on communications with Cal OES, FEMA and USDA and to report back on the library question raised by a council member about discontinued electronic resources. Nomura said staff will continue to track reimbursements and return to council with further updates.