By DREW LAWSON
Staff Reporter 

Airway Heights council to vote on CARES funding

 

Last updated 7/2/2020 at 10:38am



AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Airway Heights City Council approved City Manager Albert Tripp’s interagency agreement for coronavirus relief fund agenda item to be moved to its regular meeting on July 6 for final approval.

Tripp brought the proposal to council at its regular study session June 22. The agenda wording read “The City Council is asked to consider entering into an interagency agreement with Washington State Department of Commerce to obtain coronavirus relief funds.” The relief funds would come as a result of the federal CARES Act that is meant to provide relief for populations affected by the COVID-19 virus.

Council was asked to authorize Tripp to execute this agreement with Commerce.

The state provided a population-based allocation to cities that have fewer than 500,000 residents (which is most cities in Washington). Airway Heights’ allocation was $286,350.

Those funds can only be used for costs that are incurred between March 31 and October 31, 2020 due to the public health emergency that is COVID and weren’t accounted for in the March 27 budget (the day the CARES Act was enacted).

For example, funds could be used with medical expenses related to COVID-19 such as providing virus testing. They could also be used for sanitation expenses or economic shortfalls directly related to COVID-19.

Funds can’t be used on anything not described in the CARES Act.

Council approved the adoption of a report that, according to agenda documentation, “recommends several strategies for mitigating COVID-19 impacts to residents and businesses” at its June 15 regular meeting.

Tripp also presented on tax increment financing (TIF) at the study session. According to the agenda, he asked council to “consider making this tool available to help fund infrastructure improvements in the industrial subarea master plan.”

TIF is “a mechanism used to capture the future tax benefits of real estate improvements to pay the present cost of specific improvements,” according to Tripp’s presentation slides. It would give local government jurisdiction authority to use certain tax revenues toward developing or re-developing a pre-existing environment, particularly in under-developed or less fortunate areas where property or sales taxes wouldn’t serve that purpose fully.

Tripp’s presentation said the most common type of TIF is through real estate tax, but can also be through sales or income tax. The presentation was given at this time due to the state of the economy, according to slides.

The industrial subarea master plan recommended “substantial investment in various infrastructure improvements to encourage development in this area.” The agenda item summary said such investments could create 7,000 new living wage jobs through industrial zone properties.

Drew Lawson can be reached at drew@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

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