By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
After listening Thursday night to funding requests for 2021 by outside non-profit agencies adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hays city commissioners later talked about safeguarding the city's share of a new county retail sales tax.
In April Ellis County voters approved two one-quarter cent sales taxes that will go into effect Oct. 1, 2020 for a ten-year period.
The first monthly payment to the city is expected in December.
"I'm concerned with this COVID thing, how much this is going to affect the city of Hays," said Ron Mellick. "To start off with, this is probably where we're going to need this money, to make up for lost (city) revenue. Hopefully that will help cover it.
"I would not want to see us designate that money more than one year at a time," Mellick stressed. "Who knows about the economic times, the COVID thing. I don't want to be spending that money before we get it."
Kim Rupp, Hays finance director, has estimated the city will receive approximately $700,000 annually, or $7.7 million total with an inflation factor added.
"These are conservative estimates on our part," said Toby Dougherty, city manager.
Vice-mayor Sandy Jacobs said she sees the money as "windfall dollars" and "an opportunity to commit a portion of the annual amount to qualify-of-life issues."
"My biggest concern is waiting to see if that number really is going to be $700,000," Jacobs said. "We still don't know what our (city revenue) numbers for April were and I think that's going to tell us a lot.
"I'm not ready to say what we're going to do, she added. "It's a really difficult time. We're just going to have to be very level-headed and forward-thinking."
City staff prepared a list of possible projects the sales tax monies could be used for ranging from street maintenance to quality-of-life amenities such as the planned inclusive Arc Park. Ellis County has also asked the city to contribute another $750,000 towards the Northwest Business Corridor Project.
Mayor Shaun Musil agreed it would "be foolish to commit with everything that's going on in our country right now."
He also pointed out quality-of-life projects can generate revenue for the city, such as a proposal to place artificial turf on fields at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.
"We're supposed to have a lot of rain this weekend and we've got 54 baseball teams coming to town. Whatta ya think is going to happen if that gets rained out?" Musil mused. "That's a lot of dollars that get cycled in this community.
"If we had turf out there, they could wait a couple hours and then play, and you don't lose those dollars."
Mason Ruder considers the upcoming sales tax as a "really good opportunity to start prioritizing some of these projects" on the list.
All of the suggested projects are something Michael Berges said he could get behind. But he was also thinking of future commissions.
"This will go into the general fund. We just have to it piece out and allow each commission to go through a list like this," Berges said.
"And not put one dollar into operation funds," suggested Jacobs.
"If we have a major disaster, we may have to use it for operational funds," Mellick said. "But don't handcuff any future commissions." Jacobs agreed.
Dougherty noted the annual city budget is designed to "keep a cushion in the general fund between what we collect and what we spend."
The remaining monies are transferred to the commission capital reserve fund and used to pay cash for big projects such as roadwork.
Funding requests were heard at the beginning of the work session from:
* Grow Hays-$100,000
* Fort Hays State University's city scholarship program-$100,000
* Downtown Hays Development Corporation (DHDC)-$53,655
* CARE Council-$168,000
Representatives of each organization talked about COVID-19's negative impact on their budgets.
Sara Bloom, DHDC executive director, along with Sarah Cearley, DHDC board president, reported the organization has already lost $20,000 in revenue this year because of canceled and rescheduled fundraising events.
"We potentially could lose upwards of $80,000 this year," Bloom said, "and face another potential loss in 2021."
DHDC is asking for a five percent increase from the city for a total of $53,655 in 2021.
"Even with that increased amount, we anticipate dipping into our reserve fund," Bloom explained.
"That puts financial strain on special projects we hope to continue building downtown, like the pavilion area improvements and a municipal stage."