TAMRMS#: B06
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Utility Relief Grant Program Outcome
Diane McMordie, Director of Financial Services
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RECOMMENDATION(S)
recommendation
1. That the Utility Relief Grant be approved as an ongoing program offered by the City of St. Albert and that the Services and Service Levels Inventory be updated accordingly.
2. That the following postponed motion be approved:
PM-12-2018
“That an initial amount of $45,000 be added to the 2018 Utility operating budget, with that amount to be reviewed annually based on program uptake, and the utility rates updated accordingly.”
3. That the City Manager be authorized to enter into a service agreement with the St. Albert Community Village for purposes of administering applications for the Utility Relief Grant.
4. That the remaining balance of the pilot project funds for the Utility Relief Grant of $122,493.70 be uncommitted within the Stabilization reserve.
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
COUNCIL DIRECTION
On October 3, 2016 Council passed the following motions:
(AR-16-130)
1. That the City of St. Albert extend the Utility Relief Grant pilot program to August 31, 2017 and the remaining funding of approximately $166,000 originally approved by resolution C140-2015 be used to financially support this extension.
2. That the Utility Relief Grant amount be increased to $200 (from $150) for single family residential and to $75 (from $50) for multi-unit residential.
3. That the City Manager be authorized to extend the agreement with Community Village to August 31, 2017 for the purposes of administering the program.
4. That Administration report back to Council in Q4 2017 with outcome and analytic data related to the Utility Relief Grant.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
On September 22, 2014, Council approved C-FS-14 Utility Fiscal Policy which effectively created a utility model with rates that achieved substantial cost recovery on both operating costs and estimated long term capital expenditures. The impact of the new model included a new capital contribution fee equating to approximately $280 annually per household.
A motion was put forward to develop a grant program to provide some relief to low income households to help offset this increase (refer to attachment titled “Administrative Backgrounder - URG”). Administration researched and investigated various scenarios and issues and presented Council with a recommendation to implement a 1 year pilot project to test the effectiveness of the program. (refer to attachment titled “URG-eligibility criteria Apr 27, 2015”).
Through analysis of tax filer data from Canada Revenue Agency it was estimated that up to 2,200 could potentially qualify for the grant if the LICO (Low Income Cut-off) measure base was used as the baseline. Recognizing that not all eligible households would take advantage of the grant, the actual uptake was estimated at 1,500 households. In order to remain within the approved funding, grants were set at $150 for single family residences and $50 for multi-family residences.
Year 1 Pilot
The first phase of this pilot was structured into 2 intake periods (October/ November 2015 and April/May/2016). This provided opportunity to analyze the program after the first intake and make any necessary changes prior to the next intake period.
The first intake period saw only 35 grants issued under the program so modifications were made prior to the launch of intake #2. Some of these changes included:
1. Amending the income threshold from the LICO to the CNIT (Core Needs Income Threshold). This increased income threshold would open eligibility up to more households.
2. Added more advertising by including information on the grant with the utility bills.
These changes did help drive up the numbers for the second intake where we saw 100 grants issued. While the numbers were still far below expectations the pilot was deemed to be somewhat successful so therefore on Oct 3, 2016 Council approved an extension of the pilot for another year. (refer to attachment titled “URG Program Outcome Oct 3, 2016”).
Year 2 Pilot
The extended pilot program ran from November 15, 2016 to September 15, 2017.
The goal in extending the pilot was to see if modifications to the program and additional communications would help to increase the number of households receiving the grant.
One of the theories around the reasons for the low uptake in Year 1 of the pilot was that the original one time grant amounts of $150 (Single Family/Duplex)& $50 (Multi-Family) were not enticing enough for people to go through the application process. In an attempt to address this and test the theory, year 2 of the pilot had the grant amounts increased to $200 & $75 respectively
Another effort made to encourage more applicants was the removal of the condensed intake periods. In phase 2, applications were accepted and processed throughout the entire period.
A focus was placed on education and communication about the grant in Year 2. The following are the communication activities that took place:
City Lights Monthly submission April-September 2017
St. Albert Facebook Two posts per month
St. Albert Twitter Two posts per month
St. Albert Website ongoing (City Hall &News/City Administration/Grants)
St. Albert Utility Bills April, May, June 2017
Community Village Website stalbertcv.com (programs & services/St. Albert utility relief grant program)
Community Village Facebook Posted for intake dates
Community Village Twitter Posted for Intake dates
Letters to all Year 1 applicants November 2016
Community Working Group Information shared frequently
Flyers to Senior’s Association 2017
For Year 2 of the pilot program, a total of 164 grants were approved and issued for a total grant amount of $28,050. Of the total grants issued, 74 were repeat applicants (intent is that this could potential become an annual program). Based on the current agreement, payments made to Community Village to administer the program in Year 2 were $14,225.
For complete grant statistics for Year 1 and Year 2 of the pilot project, please refer to the attachment titled “Utility Relief Grant - Statistics”
Proposal
Although year 2 of the pilot was marginally more successful than year 1 with a 23% increase in the number of grants issued (From 135 to 166), the numbers are still significantly below original expectations. That being said, feedback from the grant recipients is overwhelmingly positive and residents have indicated that it did make a significant impact to their individual situation.
It is being recommended that the Utility Relief Grant become an ongoing program.
One of the learnings from the pilot project over the last couple of years is the amount of actual time that it takes, on average, to process and finalize applications. In the original pilot, Community Village was contracted to administer the program with funding tied to a partial FTE. With the lower number of grants actually processed this equated to an administrative cost of 39%. In order to make the program viable, while still ensuring that Community Village receives fair compensation to cover their costs, an agreement has been reached where the dollars allocated to the organization to administer the program would be on a per grant basis of $28/grant plus a flat annual administrative fee of $3,000 to cover advertising and database management.
With this administrative structure, overall funding needs of $45,000 are based on the following assumptions:
200 grants per year
$175 Weighted average grant amount
$28 Admin cost per grant
$3,000 Annual flat admin fee
It is recommended that this budget be approved for addition to the utility operating budget (rates) and managed as an ongoing operating program.
The addition of this program will have an impact of approximately $0.17 per month for a typical residential customer’s utility bill.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
Community Village is supportive of the continuation of this program and has agreed to continue its administration.
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial: Approval of the recommendations will see $45,000 added to the utility operating budget and create a rate impact of approximately $0.17/month for a typical residential customer.
Legal / Risk: Approval of the recommendations will necessitate a contract with the Community Village for ongoing administration of the program.
Program or Service: Approval of the recommendations will see the Utility Relief Grant added as an approved service and service level for the City of St. Albert.
Organizational: None at this time
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
1. Council could approve the budget with a different funding level. A lower budget would mean that some qualified applicants may be denied grants based on funding availability.
2. Council could choose to fund the program from the Municipal operating budget. This would create a tax impact, however there would be no impact on utility rates.
3. Council could choose to not proceed with the program.
STRATEGIC CONNECTIONS
City of St. Albert Strategic Plan (Policy C-CG-02) - Pillars of Sustainability
SOCIAL - We are a friendly and inclusive community of passionate equals, where everyone feels a sense of belonging. We believe that community starts with the person next door.
Governance Strategy
Council is committed to ensuring that the City of St. Albert is a responsive, accountable government that delivers value to the community.
Corporate Objectives (See Corporate Business Plan)
Ensure our customers are very satisfied
Council Policies, Bylaws or Federal/Provincial statutes
C-FS-14 Utility Fiscal Policy
Report Date : November 20, 2017
Author(s): Diane McMordie
Committee/Department: Financial Services
General Manager: Michelle Bonnici, GM Corporate Services
City Manager: Kevin Scoble