Housing & Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Roll call, please. Bowie? Here. Coleman? Here. Jost? Here. Kim? Here. Naker? Here. Yang? Here. Chair Johnson? Here. Seven in favor, or I'm sorry, seven present, zero absent. And item number one is a SAF report, SR 26-173, Planning and Economic Development and Housing and Redevelopment Authority Budget Presentation.

It's budget time. They're most excited points of the year, I'm sure. But I'm really excited to be able to have the PED and Housing Redevelopment Authority budget presentation here today. So we have two items that are here that I'm hoping that we can have time to get to. But welcome, Director McMahon. And this is your first go around at the budget presentation. Because last year, if you remember, it was presented by the former director. So looking forward to hearing from you today.

Well, thank you very much, Chair, Commissioners. Yes, my first budget presentation. So we're in back-to-school mode, right? And first budget presentation, all new and fresh. So thank you very much for the opportunity to go through all of this with you. I know it's an ongoing conversation. in the coming months, in the coming weeks. And so I'll stay up front and say again probably throughout the presentation, but more than happy to follow up with any details and working with the chair on additional information and presentations moving forward from this. So starting here and continuing the conversation. So I appreciate your time very much. I actually just wanted to really quick start with a thank you. And there's a lot of experts and folks here. If there's any questions, I know there's a lot, but if there's any questions we wanted to make sure we're prepared to answer, answer as best we can today in real time for you, but also, again, following up. But really, the team's work in pulling all of this information together is incredibly important. I'm going through it. They do it. And so I just wanted to make sure I started with acknowledging and thanking the PED team for their work. The first two slides are actually just kind of a brief overview of really department mandates that we have from federal law, from state law, from city ordinances and policies. There are a lot of things that don't always necessarily get captured in a specific budget line. And so just kind of a good overview and reminder for you all of things that are in there. You know, we do the comprehensive plan, and it's not every year a budget line that shows up because we update it every 10 years. There are things like working consultation and mitigation with the State Historic Preservation Office. We are a certified local government. Boards and commissions that we operate and run, things like that. So those are some mandates. And then programs that PED administers. A lot of the programs do show up in budgets and line items, but there's a lot there. Owning oversight and management of a significant amount of downtown parking ramps and HRA-owned parcels throughout the city. is an a budget line item obviously an incredibly important body of work that this group does moving right into the numbers in the budget then this slide shows sources and uses i know that every department is unique and special in its own budget way and ped is no different we are a mix of city funds and hra funds but also have a significant number of special funds that are used to operate the department. We'll get into more detail and kind of see that breakdown of special funds versus general funds later on. But again, just noting that we are largely funded through special funds, which have their own restrictions, their own intended uses and guidelines. A lot of those funds are also multi-year funds. So what you're seeing in this presentation, again, is the proposed 2027 budget and use of those dollars, but a lot of them are multi-year and carry forward in that way. Now for the HRA levy. The Housing Redevelopment Authority, under Minnesota state law, is allowed to levy up to 0.0185% of the city's total estimated market value. In 2026, that HRA levy was the maximum allowable by state law, and we're proposing to do the same for 2027, which would result in a 1.2% HRA levy increase, which is a total dollar amount of $77,031. Moving on now, you can see that general fund and special fund breakdown, and looking at general fund proposed cuts. So PED has a pooled car, and we're proposing to eliminate that for a total savings of $9,500. We've looked into it, and our utilization of the pooled car is actually really small and significantly below industry standards. Additionally, we're proposing to reduce the travel and training budget. We again looked at past year's travel and training, And this is an amount that we could reduce in the fund, the proposed fund, and still be within the totals that we have generally utilized in the past. So while the fund amount would be reduced, we do anticipate that people would still be able to attend necessary trainings as they have done so in the past. So these proposed general fund cuts, just really wanting to note that they're done intentionally in a way to not impact programs and services for our residents. So this slide shows the entire budget of the sales tax revitalization program dollars. PED manages and operates some of the competitive grant programs within the sales tax program. So those competitive grant programs, which include neighborhood and cultural star, are about 14% of the overall allocation of star dollars.

Yes. So a couple of questions, one from the president and the one from me, Council President Aker.

Thanks, Chair. Director, a couple questions. One, we have this listed as 2027 revenues, 2026 spending. Is that a typo? Is it supposed to be 2027 proposed spending?

Yes, I assume so. Sorry. Chair, Commissioner, and anchor, yes, I assume so.

And then can you talk about what's changed from this chart last year? It looks like we know that the commercial corridor program is being proposed to be eliminated. I know that's at least $1 million of economic development funding. So can you speak about what is shifting where? And I think there's some new lines for the arena, et cetera.

Sure, so Chair, Commissioner, there are no proposed dollars for the Commercial Corridors Program in this for 2027. They had been one-time dollars allocated last year. Really, we, again, we operate and manage those competitive grant programs within it. So for the other line items in there, I'd really, I'd have to defer to OFS for the management of that. And so that's something I think we could follow up with now, or we do have Budget Director Madeline Mitchell here.

There's a lot of folks here. I don't know if we're having another presentation on sales tax. Are we? Budget presentation?

On sales tax?

If not, I think we should.

I would say welcome up, Ms. Mitchell. And I do anticipate there being a couple questions about this slide. So just going to the previous question, the question was, what are the key changes from fiscal year 26 here on this slide to fiscal year 2027? Noting the changes example, like the arena investment, things of that nature.

Chair Johnson, Council Member Nacre, there are changes here from 2026. I don't have a complete list of every line item on this sheet that has changed. A lot of this, you can see, is related to various debt service that we have. And our city treasurer is recently out on parental leave for a month, so we can flag that for him to address when he gets back. But otherwise, I think The probably biggest one to note is the $1 million of one-time spending that was added in 2026 for commercial corridors that was not included in here for 2027. So beyond that, we can follow up with the specific details of where line items have changed. I know there are some small changes to, I believe there are some small changes to the Neighborhood Star program and Cultural Star, some small increases specifically. But I don't know the exact amounts for those right now.

I hope we can get that follow up prior to a month from now. I think it's clear that the commercial corridor program is being proposed to be eliminated. The question is, where are the dollars proposed to go? And again, it seems like there are new lines here for the arena that we have not heard about. So this is important information.

Yeah, I mean, Ms. Mitchell, is OFS not able to speak to the 3.75 million that is addressed for the arena at this time? I'm just curious. I don't think that's probably geared towards one staff. I see Director Harney coming up, but I think that is my question as well, to speak to the, I think if you add the 3.75 million and the 1.5 million investment.

Could you talk about those? Chair Johnson, members of the committee, I can speak broadly to the fact that the amounts listed here are for PAYGO economic development for the arena complex connected to the legislative agenda for the renovations. On details, though, I will have to defer to our treasury staff. Ms. Mitchell noted that the city treasurer will return approximately September 17th. So I can commit to providing an answer in writing to you before September 23rd, definitely.

OK, I will just share that that's a pretty significant investment. And so really understanding fully about how that was calculated and how that was determined. But also, I haven't seen that in any sort of budget write up that was given. And it's a big deal. It's an over $5 million investment in the arena complex. I know we talked about that last year, but it wasn't actually talked about this year very much. I haven't seen much headlines cover that as well. But it's this one area that I think if it's being, and it seems to be codified within PED's budget as well. So I just would ask, you know, I hear you with saying that there's an individual who's on leave. I do not think it's appropriate to have us wait a month for that information. And so what can we do? What can we do? Because we have a levy that we're going to vote on at the end of September, waiting until September 23rd for this item I don't think that that's necessarily conducive when we should be able to get that information since it was proposed last month.

Understood. We will get you an answer prior to that.

Thank you. Sorry. Welcome back up, Director McMahon. Please continue.

All right. Diving a little deeper into the competitive grant programs that the PED operates within STAR, there's already been some discussion of commercial corridors. These, again, in the past, in 2025, were utilizing one-time economic development STAR dollars for the pilot, then pilot of the commercial corridor program. Last year, it was funded through both one-time economic development STAR dollars and a transfer of HRA dollars. And so since one-time funds were previously used, there is no proposed 2027 funding source currently in this proposed budget. I anticipate this will be an ongoing conversation that we will continue to discuss.

And I guess along that vein, can you just, well, you brought it on to the next slide, so I'll let you finish this slide before asking it.

Sure. So these are the 2027 proposed amounts for all STAR programs. You'll also see that there are no proposed dollars for the year-round STAR program. The year-round STAR program is always a one-time appropriation. If it happens, it does not happen every year. And so that is not an ongoing funding item.

Along that vein, Director McMahon, were we able to get balances sent out? I know that was one of the things that came out in the pre-meeting to council members and the mayoral balance for year-round STAR.

Yep, I could show it on the projector really quick. I can also email it out, whichever you'd prefer.

Sure, go ahead and show it.

I can't tell if that's showing up or not. On the projector?

Okay, great. Those are the projected project balances for Year-Round Star. It's internally just tracked, and so relies a lot on information from your award offices about plans and proposals for that. I can email this out again after this, or not again, I can email it out after this presentation.

A follow-up question, I think, along that vein as well. And yes, I appreciate that. I want to bring the STAR attention because year-round STAR balances came up in some of the council colleagues' conversations, but also just in general when talking about STAR. We have not had an allocation in 2024 or 2025 or 2026, and not this year as well. So it's just something for folks to consider. As I know, certain award balances are different than others, and others vary. And the allocations have historically been... straight off the top of Neighborhood Star. And so I would just bring that to the attention of my colleagues and welcome any questions related to that. The one thing I would share is from the million that's allocated as is right now, I'm just curious as to, you know, my understanding is when we do allocations, they're often split evenly amongst eight. And I am curious about just like at what point do we revisit that conversation or does all the balances have to be at zero before we allocate that funding or what historic practice has been?

Yeah, Chair, Commissioner, so my understanding is the same as yours in that it's a budget conversation during the course of budget negotiations of a request and determination to put dollars into the year-round star line item, and historically it has been divided equally eight different ways. The most recent allocation of year-round star dollars was in 2024, and that was about a million dollars. Those year-round star dollars do come from the Neighborhood Star Fund, which is why year-round Star proposals go to the Neighborhood Star board as part of that competitive grant process before coming to the council.

So it typically has its own budget solved because it's using Neighborhood Star dollars. It's just an allocation that gets placed on for your own Star out of your Neighborhood Star dollars. Sure, that's my understanding. Council, sorry, Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. And my recollection is that typically we would use those sales tax dollars above budget, which we saw in the line item on the waterfall chart. So line three, we came in $1.25 million above budget in 2025. So we would use those above budgeted star dollars, divvy them up amongst all eight. And then the different balances that you're seeing just reflects different spending decisions by the different wards in the mayor's office over time.

Thank you, Commissioner Aker. But I appreciate that clarity.

Old lady comment.

Commissioner Brewer.

Thank you, Chair Johnson. I have a clarifying question around the year-round star. Does it roll over? Because I know there's been some mixed messages I've heard in terms of the amount that rolls over per year. Chair Commissioner, yes, it does. Okay.

Thank you. Along that vein, Director McMahon, does it have to?

Chair, commissioners, I think that'd be part of budget discussions as to how those funds would be allocated and carry over or not and work in future years. I'm not aware of any, I'm not aware of separate or additional requirements in that respect.

Thank you, Director.

all right looking now to local affordable housing aid one of the special funds that we have in ped laha is a dedicated source of state funding for local governments in the seven county metro area to address metro housing needs it's a relatively new source of funding that we get here in the city and it's funded through a 0.25 metro area sales tax so it is an ongoing dedicated source it is restricted to certain housing related uses It must be used by the end of the year of the third year following by which it was received. So what you're seeing here are the proposed 2027 allocations for the amount we anticipate getting in 2027 of LAHA. Essentially the same numbers and information, but with more detail explaining. Just to touch on a few of these, citywide down payment assistance is proposed at $1 million with inheritance fund at $1 million. Again, these are the proposed $27. Existing dollars would roll over into future years for last year's remaining dollars. Also similarly noting that the million-dollar allocation of 2027 LAHA for emergency rental assistance would be in addition to dollars that might be unspent this year that would roll over into next year's budget. We know that disposing of HRA-owned parcels is a priority, so this LAHA budget proposal again allocates dollars towards that end. Through our small scale development team which really focuses heavily on HRA owned properties and disposing of HRA owned properties But also includes supporting all small scale and infill development in our city And then the last line you see there the affordable housing development gap subsidy is intended to get projects over the finish line I know that you all have had discussions and we have heard and we have all seen that how often it takes affordable multifamily developments years to to really be able to consolidate funds from different sources. And in the time in which they're doing that, costs grow sometimes. And then you sort of get to what you think is the finish line, and now there's some additional gap. And you've already gone through the process for other sources of funding and competitive grants and that sort of thing. So this source would really be intended, as those final dollars end, to be able to move projects forward that have been anticipated and planned and hoped for for years.

Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Chair. Director, on this and also all the subsequent slides that talk about specific funds, it would be helpful to see an additional two columns, one that talks about 2026 budgeted amount and one that shows the total amount currently in the balance, as you were describing. Especially important as we get towards, I think, the third year of the first year of LAHA. spending that down. I think 2027 will be either the second or the third year from the first year. And just wanting to be able to see how much, how these numbers compare with what we've allocated in the past and how much we currently have sitting in the bank in each of these funds.

Chair, Commissioner, sure. We can try and consolidate that information sort of in a similar format to be able to get to you. For the 2026 budget, those actuals are out there. And really through the spend plan and the year-to-date spending is where we've tried to be able to show what is remaining. And I know we've discussed sort of the challenges in being able to ensure we're providing accurate information on that front. But we can try and consolidate that information.

I think it's just seeing your year-to-date spend in one place.

On the presentation slides. Yeah.

Yeah, I would say that also for really any of the programs and kind of prefacing for our quarter three budget to actual discussion, when we were able to get that, you know, before the, hopefully, well, preferably before the budget vote and when we have to vote for the budget, you know, I think it'll be also telling and indicative of some of the projections that we've seen throughout the year. So going into quarter three, which I believe ends at the end of the month, I think, Or is it next month?

Next month.

Next month? OK. So just kind of going through the quarter three budget to actuals piece, I just would echo that that's why that'll be important to bring back up to us as well. But I think for the purposes of presentation, I think what she's asking for is clear. But are you open, I guess, I think we're also open just to the amount and time that we have most accurately given. So if quarter three, we have to wait for quarter three actuals, using quarter Tuesday actuals is still helpful, because then we can make those connections on the presentation.

Yeah, and Chair, to that point, we typically see how much we're carrying over from the previous year. So I know we've tried to get super accurate about spend down to date. But the department has always done a good job of saying, this is the amount that we're carrying over. On a couple of slides from now, we'll see full stack is carrying over 100,000. I think it's at that level of detail that we've seen in the past. It doesn't have to be as fine-grained as the spend-down if we don't have it.

All right. Looking now at the Housing Trust Fund, also noting here that the World Trade Center parking revenues are the only resources that are supporting the special fund and going into that special fund. Similar to looking at LAHA, trying to provide it in a few different ways, similar information and more details on this slide. Starting with just touching on the ADU subsidies. So this is a continuation of ongoing work and really an opportunity to show proof of concept. I think this is a really exciting way of following the policy work that policymakers have been doing over the course of a number of years. And so in order to meet those policy objectives of increasing housing options and number of units, PED's really done a lot over the past several years. And you could look to starting with updating our zoning to eliminate single-family zoning and to really facilitate more flexible standards of building housing, specifically including ADUs in our city. to allow for that infill and increased housing units. We're now working on permit-ready plans, which will make the construction of those ADUs easier and more affordable by those plans already being done and that not being an expense of the developer. And so this ADU-specific subsidy then will be held within our small-scale development team. And so the goal is to work with developers who are interested in developing housing on HRA-owned land or other small infill development opportunities to include ADUs in their plans And this subsidy would fill any additional gaps created by the addition of the ADU. So again, to me, it's really interesting to see sort of we'll start with the policy work. And what are our policy objectives? We'll update the ordinances accordingly. And then we'll make it easier for you kind of getting through the bureaucracy. And now we're going to kind of put a little bit of money where our mouth is and say, show us proof of concept. and look, we can do it, we can do it well, and hopefully replicate that and have others see that it works and continue with those operations. For historic preservation surveys, completing historic preservation survey provides us with information needed to make informed preservation, planning, and development decisions. We are a certified local government under state law, which means we're expected to complete historic surveys. And so we would use these funds to complete a St. Paul immigration context survey that would identify and document historic resources associated with immigration specifically in St. Paul. Another really exciting way to ensure that we are fulfilling our obligation as a certified local government and engaging in these historic preservation surveys. For the Healthy Homes Program, just as a reminder, this addresses pre-weatherization and weatherization in one to four unit owner occupied homes in St. Paul. It allows for reduced energy costs, lower emissions for residents. Previously, the program was funded through one-time ARPA dollars, and so this proposal continues the program, but through $300,000 of Housing Trust Fund dollars, and you'll note on there is $200,000 of ARPA dollars. And then the rental assistance to hotline. So this proposed funding in the past has specifically identified Homeline, which is a statewide nonprofit that helps Minnesota renters understand and enforce their rights. And so the main service that they provide is a tenant hotline that individuals can use to call for advice about those things. So if these dollars are allocated, OFE would complete an RFP process to use the dollars for that same purpose.

I saw a hand from Commissioner Bui. Then I'm going to go Commissioner Coleman, and then back to Commissioner Naker.

Thank you, Chair Johnson. Thank you so much, Director McMahon. I have a question around the Healthy Homes. I might be wrong, but I recall that Healthy Homes initially was funded through franchise fees. If you can speak to if I may be mixing up the programs and if there has been any consideration of leveraging the franchise fees for the Healthy Homes program.

Chair, Commissioner, we have a Power of Home program and a Healthy Home program, which they both sound somewhat similar with home in there, but Power of Home is supported by the franchise fees. Healthy Home was supported with the ARPA dollars. So this is specifically for the program that had ARPA dollars to try and find some ongoing funding for it, and that's being through the Housing Trust Fund for the majority of it, but still using some ARPA dollars.

And for the power homes, that's solely franchise fees. OK, because I do recall former climate director Russ Stark presenting both programs, but it sounds like they were funded through different sources. OK, thank you.

I guess as a follow-up for that, and I'll go to Commissioner Coleman after that, can you clarify, you mentioned a few things around ongoing funding. So looking at these numbers, are they one-time funding through the Housing Trust Fund, or are they ongoing dollars?

Chair, it's intended to be ongoing dollars through the Housing Trust Fund.

I just want to clarify, I don't actually know if we do ongoing funding sources related to that or if it's one time per annual year. And so I just want to flag that as well, because I do not think that we are able to allocate ongoing funding. But I would just be curious to know that that would be a question for me. I think often special funds are one time uses. Going back to Commissioner Coleman.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Director. Just trying to understand the rental assistance hotline line item. So is the goal that we would be providing that $100,000 contract to Homeline, presumably, but because it's an RFP process, there's a possibility that somebody would come in and do it differently? But is this a change from last year, I guess, is my question?

Chair, Commissioner, there hasn't been an RFP that's been done in the past to provide this service for residents. It's been essentially a direct appropriation. And through a variety of reasons, it was determined it would be better to allocate the funds using an RFP process. for that fair and equitable opportunity to provide the service. And so I presume HomeLine would be applying for the RFP. I don't know if there are other services that are qualified to do that or not. And I think we'll learn that through the RFP process. I can follow up with Director Owens and myself on that process as well.

Yes, Commissioner Coleman.

Thank you. Just a quick follow-up. Yeah, it would be helpful to know a little bit more about that. And also, I think my biggest concern is just that if we're going through a whole RFP process, it would then prevent us from providing that support for a significant chunk of the year. If we usually do a direct appropriation, then we can get that started right away at the start of the year versus taking weeks or months or however long an RFP would take. So yeah, I would love to know more about that change.

Chair, Commissioner, I'll work with Dr. Owens to get that information to you, but the goal for sure is no disruption in service. I know this is an important service provided for tenants in the city of St. Paul, and it's important to continue it.

Awesome. And just as a follow-up to that and clarification, this item has not been historically funded through the Housing Trust Fund, so the previous question of just the changing the source changes. So the Housing Trust Fund did not fund that this year. There was another source utilized for that. It's being proposed here. And then just to clarify, would this be an OFE allocation, or is the RFP process being housed within PED or OFE?

Chair, the RFP process would be housed within OFE.

Okay, thank you. Sorry, excuse me, there's a line. Commissioner Naker. Thanks, Chair.

No, I'm grateful for these questions, Chair. I think your point is... really well taken about ongoing versus one-time funding. It's also my understanding that anything from a special fund is inherently one-time funding. But I think sometimes it's only the things that council has added out of special funds that is called one-time funding. So I think it's an important question to ask. I also appreciate Council Member Coleman's question about the rental assistance hotline. I thought that there was something in our procurement guidelines that if there's only one entity that can provide this needed service, that an RFP is not necessary. So I hope that we're working with procurement on the to make sure, because I think all of our minds immediately went to the one rental assistance hotline. And to keep services from being disrupted, it would help not to have an RP. My questions are, number one, on the Healthy Homes. Sorry. Oh, Healthy Homes. Ms. Bowie asked this question, and I think it was a good point. The mayor, I know, proposed $1 million in extra franchise fee spending, including for Healthy Homes. I believe it was one of the programs. So I'm wondering, is that additional to the $300,000?

Chair, Commissioner, I'd have to follow up on that. My understanding is the $300 and then the $200 from ARPA are the only dollars that would go into Healthy Home for next year that would allow the program to continue is my understanding. I can follow up on that.

Maybe we can just get clarity from OFS on where that million dollars is going. And then lastly, it looks like we are also funding two staff positions out of one-time funding. And I know typically we try not to do that. So I'm wondering if there's plans or if these are one-time positions.

I would just share from my understanding related to, I can say that the OFE Housing Coordinator role and position has been an ongoing transfer from the Housing Trust Fund for several years, pretty much since it began. So I think to your point, and it's something that I have also raised, which is staffing coming out of the Housing Trust Fund. We heard from earlier presentations today about how they don't like to rely on fund balance or extra funding, special funds for staffing, but yet The Housing Trust Fund has done that on multiple occasions for years. If there's anything you'd add about the PED Housing Senior Project Manager, I can't necessarily speak to that. I think this is a new position, or is it just a new source for it?

Chair, Commissioner, this was to go with housing for some of the ERA. I'm looking to double-check that. ERA support.

Okay, so yes, it's continuing on through that fashion or through that vein. I guess the question I would have, just for clarity, then is the Power of Homes program receiving any funding budgeted for fiscal year 2027?

Chair, yes, through the franchise fee at the same amount, I believe.

Okay. And just to clarify, the climate director role is not in PD, right? Chair, correct.

Okay.

Nor is the fund, the Climate Action Fund. Chair, correct. Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Brewley.

Thank you, Chair Johnson. I have a quick question around the rental assistance. Is this for the $100,000, is that in addition to our tenant support direct appropriation to HomeLine? Because I know we have a direct appropriation to HomeLine. Is that coming out of PED, or is this in addition to that type of service?

Chair, Commissioner, this would be replacing it. So it would be at the same dollar amount. It would be an RFP process to assign that award to instead of the direct appropriation. Thank you for clarifying. All right. So moving on to the HRA general fund. Noting here that we are required by state law, as I had mentioned previously, to update our comprehensive plan every 10 years. Previously, this has really been an all-hands-on-deck effort that has required a significant amount of staffing and resources and support out of our planning department and has really precluded us from doing other planning work. And knowing there's a lot of really exciting and important work, such as the T District study, we have different Sign ordinance updates, there's a lot of different things that we're looking at doing to really be able to support the policy objectives and wanting to ensure that that work continues. The allocation here is then for additional support for that comprehensive plan. Then the loan enterprise fund. You can see again the allocations in here, and we've got folks who can speak more to it. The proposed 2027 allocation for full-stack is that $300,000 and the anticipated carryover dollars. The Business Assistance Fund, the proposal for 2027 is to carry over unspent dollars in the fund to have for potential business needs if they can't be served through other existing programs and funds. And then also noting the transfer from the loan enterprise fund to the HRA general fund. As I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, some of our special funds are diminishing or have limited sources. And so this proposal transfers this from the special fund into the HRA general fund to support a healthy balance in that fund. The homeowner loan program, this is a program that predates me, I think, by several years. And so my understanding, the program no longer operates, and the dollars are past that restriction on time spent to use the funds. They've sort of stayed on the books for a number of years. In some respects, this is a cleanup item to return those dollars to MHFA and to accurately reflect that transfer. The parking enterprise fund, as the owner The Housing Redevelopment Authority, the proud owners of several downtown parking ramps. The HRA provides for ongoing maintenance and capital repairs and upgrades in our ramps to ensure they continue to operate in our market and provide revenue generation. Again, best practices are to every year ensure that we're doing capital work to prevent large unexpected costs. And so this also using the Parking Enterprise Fund to support those needs is an appropriate use of the funds for these purposes. You can see there capital repair and maintenance as well as equipment acquisition.

Commissioner Naker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Director, for this, and also I'm realizing for all of the other funds, we need to see the totals in the funds as well. I know we've had a really helpful color-coded bar chart of the parking fund in years past, and then I'm realizing that we don't have total amount in loan enterprise fund, general fund, et cetera, in the presentation.

Chair, Commissioner, yep, we will pull that together to get to you.

And I think along that vein, and as we get to the next, we can go to the transfer side too, but I think it'll be really helpful as we go through each fund. If I'm looking at this amount and I see what's coming out of the parking enterprise fund, is this the totality of what's coming out of the parking enterprise fund, Director McMahon, or is this the notable things that you want to bring to the attention for key 2027 investments, or is it the totality of what's coming out of the HRA parking enterprise fund for 2027?

Chair, these are key investments. It's not the totality of the fund. And again, we'll follow up with all of the special funds to get you some more of those details.

Yeah, I think it would be really helpful to know what's going in and out of each fund as well, so the fund balance for those special funds. But also, if there are any sort of... fees, services, personal services, contract things that we are funding in anywhere in the city. I think just really being able to understand these special funds are depleting. Understanding some of the sources, especially around like Parking Enterprise, I'm like, okay, wonderful. And our revenue continues to project lower than what we maybe anticipated after COVID. So some of the revenue that we were getting before COVID has changed greatly just with some of the lower usage of our parking ramps so really understanding how we're utilizing that that funding for 2027 i think it's really key for folks to understand what's going in and out and so i just want to be clear about that request so folks don't have any um confusion you know we're not just talking about what gets transferred out of these funds um in a official like transfer capacity but pretty much any and everything that's going in and out I think, as a board, we should be able to see that information and to access it. So just whatever we need to do to work with the Office of Financial Services team or the financial team that aids within PET to be able to accurately see what is going out or in these special funds, inclusive of even small dollar amounts, $15,000 investment expenses, a random fee that we pay every year, rent that we pay in any capacity, just some of those examples, any additional things that we provide to resources for our attorneys, anything that we provide for resources for different departments, because I know that the HRA actually funds And a lot of spaces, several city charges because we are a separate entity that we contract for those services to have representation because we don't have staff beyond you. So just being able to see that in the special funds, it would be really great to see that codified.

Chair, sure. Noted for follow-up and continued conversation.

Thank you.

Commissioner Yang. Thank you, Chair Johnson. Director McMahon, thank you for your presentation today. Just two quick questions. Can you share the carryover amount for the business assistance fund?

Chair, Commissioner, so currently we have approximately, and I follow up with the exact dollar amounts, but around $200,000, that was specific in the business assistance fund, and there are also business assistance fund dollars, $500,000, within the downtown vitality fund. And so as we continue to work on the downtown vitality fund, I think that will be part of our continued conversations as to what the overall dollar amounts for carryover would be.

Okay, and so my understanding is we're not The proposal isn't to put additional dollars into this. It's just the carryover, right? Chair, Commissioner, correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. And I know in the past there have been board members, and even I have brought this up too, just around the questions, how can we get the money rolled out quicker? And there tends to be that carryover. So I am glad to see that we're not putting additional dollars into it, but we're still focusing on exhausting the fund. That's what my hope would be. And then for a full stack one thing I wanted to mention is I believe in the past One to three years. Maybe we've been carrying over amounts for this program here. Can you you explain a bit about why we're purple why the carryover is being proposed but can you say a bit more about that because I'm just sort of thinking about like programs I I don't think it's very common for us to roll over those dollars. If it's not used, then it just is by another department for other expenses. And so my initial thinking on this would be if there are any remaining dollars that it shouldn't be carried over and that the $300,000 being proposed for it, for example, could just be replenished for next year.

chair commissioner thank you we can again follow up with more information about that program specific there was um it's unique a little bit with full stack with the partnership and the private public partnership that it is and a lot of the ongoing programs and other things that it works on okay thank you All right, as the chair noted, the HRA, you can see here, provides some support for other departments. And within that, we are, I believe, going to have follow-up conversations about the transfers to other departments. And in the future weeks, you'll hear from some of those main departments that will come before you to learn more about those transfers and those dollar amounts. We're getting a few from the end here, but noting the PED staffing and the 2027 staffing plan. Just wanted to note here that the proposed 2027 budget for PED does not result in an increase or decrease of total FTEs in the department. You can see here as well the structure and the organization of the department on this slide. And then moving on here for those, sorry, you can see the vacancy numbers here. but then some more details about those and anticipated timeline for filling those. I am in process of hiring a deputy director. I'm extremely excited about that. Also wanting to note that the housing team actually just recently completed the hiring and promoting of a total of five individuals, which is a lot in a pretty short period of time following the expiration of the hiring freeze. and getting folks through that process in the city and hired and onboarding now. So the immediate focus right now is ensuring that these very new employees are onboarded and secure and sufficient in the work and then moving towards that process of hiring the next wave of talented and exciting PED staff that I anticipate coming. And then you can see there as well for the economic development team, they're in the process of hiring for two positions and will begin the process for two additional ones later this fall. And then I'm ending with this. Oh, sorry. Was there a question before?

You can wrap up, and then we'll take questions after.

OK. I just wanted to end. You've got a few folks here that were available for specific questions and everything. This is a picture from one of our more recent all-staff meetings. And I bring it up because we go through all the numbers, and we have all the line items. And we have, I think you can, I hope you can see the significant and really impactful work that the department does. And so you see the impact of the work in community, right, when somebody gets that emergency rental assistance and can stay in safe and secure housing. You see it when their housing has been, you know, made more healthy for them through that Healthy Homes program. You can see a lot of the impact of the zoning changes or support for development proceeding to build more housing. But you see the impact in community, and I just wanted to make sure that I think, and we also note that that happens because of the people on the slide. The work that they do has that impact in community, which is pretty exciting when you think about this small but mighty team of folks and the work that they all do. So thank you very much.

Well, I really love this photo. I saw it when it was put forth. And I love it because I do think that we get a chance to really interact with several of your staff folks. At least for my office, it's on a regular basis. And I know for a lot of us, we have a lot of intersection when it comes to many of the folks on the screen. And so I sincerely appreciated this. chuckled a little bit by all of the different personalities that were here. And just appreciate the work that the team does. And you always seem to roll up with your full team presentation. So I also love the support that they have with you and coming out and being here directly to talk about it. I know that we have some folks here that are here for the tax increment financing update, and I just want to also specify that what we have predetermined as well for folks that are here for that item, too, is that if there is any carryover for that presentation, that we will make intentional time for the next meeting. It's already preplanned to do so because the budget, I don't want to rush that conversation, and we usually run our HRA meetings now from 2 to 3 p.m., So for folks that are looking and wanting to hear about TIF, just know that that's not going to be rushed today. It'll also be continued on to what we don't get to today. I just think it's helpful to share for folks that are watching either from home or here for that item. I'll ask and take a couple questions from folks that maybe waited to the end of the budget presentation to ask, too. And I can take those now. Commissioner Naker. She did not wait till the end to ask her out. I'll go back to you.

I'll wait indefinitely after this last question. And this will be a major downer after the beautiful ending that we just had, so sorry. But going back to the previous slide, I think that the approximate date column was intended to be a date when it became vacant. rather than the date that it's intended to be filled. So I'm glad you said what you said, because I thought suddenly we were bored in time and I'd missed it. So if you could add another column that just shows when these positions became vacant, that would be really helpful. And I just wanted to echo your thanks, Chair, and say I'm really glad that at HRA we have the opportunity to dive in multiple times into the budget. I think we had a lot of pretty substantial requests for follow-up today that will benefit from having actual discussion rather than just an email attachment. And one of those things that I think would be good to talk about in a future budget or otherwise meeting would be some of those outcomes that you were describing, Director, with this incredible team. It would be good to know for some of the programs that are run and the work that staff are doing, what are some of the most significant outcomes that the team has achieved this year in those different areas.

Commissioner Kim, do you have a follow-up? No? OK. I think just going back to one thing I would just share, it hurts my heart to see the $550,000 returning back to the homeowner loan program funding to the state. I understand the exhaustions of funds, but I do want to ask just for clarity, do we have any other programs at this time that are funded by an external source, either federal, state, or other philanthropic partner within PED that are either not program like they're not running right now but they have a budget item like this um or do you anticipate seeing any sort of things like this in fiscal year 27 around return funding because we didn't do what we said we were going to chair i'm not aware of any but we will sort of we'll we'll do a check throughout the department because i think that that you know is something that um I think if we just continue doing something, maybe not waiting until the exhausted funding timeline to when we have to return something, but also bringing that to the body to see if that's in alignment. I think historically we've seen some of the programs not continue forward. The changes to business assistance funds, some of the guidelines that definitely came from I think the PD work, but then the question around, okay, if we're carrying over $500,000 for business assistance fund through the downtown vitality fund and then $200,000, so I have questions about, does that mean that we have $700,000 that can be invested in businesses across the city? geographic restrictions, you know, and just kind of being able to bring those conversations back, it would be really helpful to know when those happen. And so if there is, you know, when we find that line item, it's just a part of the cleanup. And I, to the credit of PD's team, we've already been able to identify several instances where, like, a few incidents where there's been, you know, a dollar amount that we're like, we... haven't operated that program. That is a part of what funded some of the staffing around emergency rental assistance was not new funding, but literally just pockets of money that was allocated somewhere that was no longer going to be working. And so if we do see that within the team, I just echo the importance, I think, of also getting commissioners buy-in before that determinant is made because I have several questions about that program and I'm just sad that it's not we're returning you know funding and I would have loved to have known to be able to see why and why we didn't do it and what was the reason for kind of like not not acting on it at the time so just wanted to note that the other question that I had and something that I thought was really helpful to to ask was around the Just a clarification again on the transfer to the HRA general fund. Is that a reduction of the transfer, or is that transfer proposal happening?

Chair, the transfer from the special fund to the general fund?

The loan enterprise fund transfer to the general fund, is that being discontinued, or is that happening?

That $3 million for 2027. Chair's proposed to happen in 2027. Okay. Okay.

And then also from the transfers, I see the list that's here. When I kind of just note it, it's a quick thing. It's probably more technical in nature. I don't know if it's not a transfer. But for example, if the, sorry, I'm going through the slides here. If the rental assistance hotline is being housed in OFE, if the RFP is being done through OFE, I think that's a transfer, but I don't see it on the list of transfers. So just wanna double check that we have all the transfers that are going in and out for any reason. Not that I doubt this number, but I think this slide does not necessarily reflect them all. Primary example, one of them being the rental hotline appears to be a transfer if OFE is managing the in total. I know there's other instances where maybe there's a PED program, but the reality is another office or another department is handling that. Like, for example, of all the STAR funding that we have, how much does PED actually operate?

Chair, we operate the competitive grant programs within. So the dollars previously right for commercial corridor programs, Neighborhood Star, Cultural Star, and then Year-Round Star.

OK, but just for an example, that's not all of them, correct? That's not all the star funds? Correct. Sure. So just kind of those examples where we have moments where all of the star funds that are given, but we actually only, PED only has, or HRA only has, a small portion of something. I just think that distinction is really helpful so we know who to ask. And as we're having departments come in front of us and the budget committee, being able to actually ask those questions would be really helpful. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Item number two is staff report SR26-172, tax increment financing TIF update.

As we switch slides, we'll bring on Ms. Wolf. And as I shared before, we also will be continuing this item as well to give it the time that it's due so we don't just have nine minutes to go through it. Ms. Wolf, please take your time. We will also revisit this during the next HRA meeting to make sure that we're not blowing through something that I know will be really important not only to community but to this body. Welcome.

First up, done good. Chair Johnson, commissioners, I'm Jenny Wolf with PED. So, sorry, I was putting in with the slides. You want me just to walk through the slides for the whole thing, or is there something I should focus on in the short time we have here?

I was going to say, if you want to give a bit of a summary and then go through the full presentation at the next meeting, we can do that. If you want to highlight some of the key things that you would say, if I gave you... Eight minutes to do something.

That's a lot of pressure.

Slide nine.

Okay. I'll just give the quick summary that's included in the presentation. We have a decertification refresher, and this was intended to be the topic of the tax increment discussion was around decertification. Talk about our HRA TIF districts and the debt obligations. Talk about HRA TIF districts that we plan to decertify either because they are, well, they decertify by their terms or we've exhausted our pooling abilities and they need to be decertified or we could elect to decertify early. I'm going to talk about pooling for affordable housing, which is What we do when we keep a TIF district open, if it could be decertified, we keep it open so that we can pool for affordable housing. It's a very powerful source to fund many of our affordable housing projects. We have our affordable housing financing needs that I've detailed, kind of the total project need and total dollar amount, and then future HRA board action. So that's the topics to cover.

And for today, would you mind just, would you mind going through slides eight, nine, and possibly 10 if we have time?

Okay. Okay, so here on slide, let me go back one slide. Yep.

Or actually, okay, so...

I think I could start with this slide. HRA TIF districts and the debt obligations. So this shows out of our 47 TIF districts that are collecting increment into pay 26, there's six that have obligations that have been fully paid already or they did not have obligations. um and so those are listed here the six and then there are four redevelopment tip districts that are expected to pay their obligations this year in 2026 and so they would be decertified following the end of of 26 for collections emerald gardens and metro lofts those are sub-districts within the emerald Park TIF district, and the 808 Berry was listed above of the six as a sub-district that had already satisfied its obligations. And then Phelan Village, uncommitted, and Pioneer Endicott, redevelopment TIF district. So then on this slide here, it talks about those that will be decertified early. On the bottom there, the four districts. And future action will be needed by the HRA board to do that decertification. We need to submit a form to the state auditor, and if the district is not decertifying by its statutory date, we have to have an authorizing resolution from this body to effectuate that decertification. Okay, so now on to slide eight These are additional three sub districts within our riverfront Renaissance TIF district That do not have obligations And so those parcels can be pulled out of the riverfront Renaissance TIF district The main TIF district still does have a debt obligation the final year for this district is 2028 And so we would just pull out the parcels that do not have increments pledged. So those increments are collected and pooled for affordable housing right now. So that was eight. And then here on slide nine, this tabulates what we would be releasing for pay 27. This is based on the pay 26 captured amounts. We do not have the estimated capture amounts from the county yet for pay 27. So this is estimated based on pay 26. So it's just meant to be a proxy. So this shows 4.6 million that would be released to the tax base, which is 19% of our total captured. And that is also 1.33% of the city's total tax base. And then pooling for affordable housing. So as I mentioned, we keep TIF districts open if they could be closed and we pool dollars for affordable housing. We pool for affordable housing from districts that have debt obligations. We pay the debt and then the balance not needed for debt is pooled. So right now we have $14 million pooled through pay 25 as shown here on this slide. And then I'm estimating if we collect everything in pay 26 without any offsets, we could generate an additional six million. And then this slide 12 shows how we've funded projects across the city with our pooled TIF dollars. And then lastly on this slide 13 the housing team has identified 12 projects seeking 20 million dollars And they they have earmarked pooled TIF as a potential gap source This would produce over a thousand units of rental and ownership housing throughout the city So this is the importance of continuing to pool for affordable housing while returning tax base on this slide. So we get to do both.

One thing that I think would be really helpful is if there are any things that my colleagues may see that they want to add in anticipation for next HRA meeting, take a look through this. We have this ability to do that. If there's any information that you feel like is missing between now and when we return to us, I am spacing on the next, the date. Can I look up the HR meeting? But it'll be next Wednesday. So just kind of going- September 2nd. Yeah, September 2nd. Thanks. So just kind of looking through, I want to just be able to see if there's anything that we would add. So council members, especially commissioners that have asked or expressed interest in knowing about- the districts that are able to be decertified, kind of looking through the wards, if there's information that you feel like is missing or you would like to see added, I think we can be able to get that and accommodate it given that this will return on the HRE agenda for next week as well with the full presentation that Ms. Wolk will go through. So thank you for being able to kind of adjust with that. I knew that this would be two topics that would be pretty heavy, so we planned accordingly. And we'll be able to revisit it as I'm sure folks will have additional questions for you. Okay, thank you. All right, well, that is all that is coming before us. I would share that, yes, there was a slew of questions that came as follow-ups. I know that both our Chief Budget Officer, our Deputy Director, CFO is also both watching this as well, and we're taking notes around what was being requested, and so we will also follow up with BED on that, and I'm sure that... The entire staff team that was here today heard some of the questions, so if you heard your item come up, just be expecting to see some feedback and or follow-up materials for Director McMahon to be able to convey to us. And with that, we are adjourned.