HomeMy WebLinkAbout20200616_CARES ActCity of San Luis Obispo, Office of the City Council, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7114, slocity.org
June 16, 2020
The Honorable Jordan Cunningham
Member, California State Assembly
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 94249
Via FAX: (916) 319-2135
The Honorable Bill Monning
Member, California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 4040
Sacramento, CA 95814
VIA FAX: (916) 651 – 4917
RE: Amendment to CARES Act Allocations
Dear Assembly Member Cunningham and Senator Monning:
The City of San Luis Obispo thanks you for your efforts to protect and support Californians
during this unprecedented public health crisis. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak,
cities have been coordinating across jurisdictional lines, enacting emergency measures to slow
the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, taking action to protect individuals and small
businesses, and incurring significant unplanned expenses to protect public health and the
economy. These actions have saved lives and serve as a model for the country. But these
actions come at a cost.
The City of San Luis Obispo appreciates the May Revision allocation of $450 million of the
state’s CARES Act funding to cover COVID-19-related costs by cities. However, under the
current formula some cities will receive as little as $3,000. We are calling on the Legislature
and the Governor to increase the state’s CARES Act funding allocation to cities to $500
million and establish a floor allocation of $50,000 per city. Cities need additional funding and
a minimum allocation to ensure that CARES Act funding is distributed fairly and equitably
and is a meaningful amount for all jurisdictions.
CARES Act funding will help our city recover from this pandemic faster and reopen our
communities without furthering city revenue shortfalls and threatening core city services.
Our city will receive $472,487 under the May Revision formula or $ 574,950 under the
formula being proposed by the League. While neither of these amounts will be enough to
cover all the expenses and lost revenue incurred as a result of the pandemic, it will help - as
long as we have the flexibility to put the funds granted to us towards where it is most needed.
Since that may be different for every city in the state, we ask the legislature to ensure that
funds are not granted only for personal protective equipment or any other specific categories.
It is important to note that CARES Act funding is only for COVID-19-related expenses. Our
city still needs direct state and federal funding to address the devastating impact stay-at-home
orders have had on our budget and local economy. In total, cities around the state are facing a
nearly $7 billion revenue shortfall over the next two years, and this shortfall grows by billions
of dollars as modified stay-at-home orders extend into the summer months and beyond. The
City of San Luis Obispo impacts are in the tens of millions alone including the General Fund
and various enterprise funds such as Parking, Wastewater, Water, and Transit.
The City of San Luis Obispo appreciates your consideration of our budget requests and looks
forward to further discussing how together we can continue to best protect Californians and
reopen our economy. Thank you again for your leadership and partnership during these
uncertain times.
Sincerely,
Heidi Harmon
Mayor
cc: San Luis Obispo City Council
State Senator Bill Monning, fax (916) 651 – 4917
State Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, fax (916) 319-2135
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, mdesmond@cacities.org