Public safety, housing, gun violence top Columbia council’s ideas for federal dollars
Improvements to fire and police facilities, along with community projects to reduce gun violence and improve food security, are among ways Columbia may spend federal pandemic relief dollars.
The City of Columbia will receive just over $27 million from the American Rescue Plan Act President Joe Biden signed in March. That money must be spent to replace lost revenue, advance city projects and amenities, or support neighborhood revitalization programs.
City Manager Teresa Wilson laid out a proposal for the city council Monday that would have the city doing a bit of each. City council members received the update during a workshop to begin writing next year’s budget.
The city has already committed about $15 million to make up pandemic-related costs, and another $4.4 million to offer frontline employees bonuses, which were announced in September, and to establish a vaccine incentive program for city staff.
The proposals for how to spend the remaining $7 million include improving police and fire facilities and establishing programs to reduce gun violence, fight food insecurity and boost affordable housing access.
“A lot of the numbers are fluid,” Wilson told council members, explaining that some of the specifics depend on conversations with Police Chief Skip Holbrook.
The entire list of ideas, which Wilson said did not include every project the city could undertake, would cost $43 million — about $16 million more than Columbia will get from the pot of federal money.
The list suggests spending approximately $5 million on fire and police facility and equipment improvements, $1.1 million on initiatives to address gun violence, $1 million to demolish abandoned buildings, $1 million to combat food insecurity, $1.5 million for affordable housing projects and $2.5 million to rehabilitate the Katheryn Bellfied cultural arts center.
The city council won’t decide immediately what projects will be paid for from the special fund, nor will the city immediately be able to access the full $27 million. The city has received about $13.5 million, but won’t get the other half of the money until at least June 2022.
This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
