Title
Resolution to Amend the Office of Sustainability and Innovations FY 2019 Budget and Appropriate Funds for New and the Scaling-Up of Existing Climate and Sustainability Programs in the City of Ann Arbor (8 Votes Required)
Memorandum
The following resolution requests that the Ann Arbor City Council approve and appropriate funding to the Office of Sustainability and Innovations to immediately begin designing, creating, and implementing new climate and sustainability programs while also supporting the scaling-up of existing, effective programs. The total amount requested is $313,000 to be allocated from the General Fund Balance and repaid once the County Health Millage Fund (0100) rebate is received.
This budget adjustment is being requested to support the implementation of the Office of Sustainability and Innovations Work Plan (attached) that outlines core programs and activities to be undertaken by staff within the Office over the next 3 years, with support from the City’s Energy and Environmental Commissions. The identified programs were chosen because of their potential to significantly impact municipal and community-wide greenhouse gas emissions as well as the broad community-support for these initiatives. These programs were also chosen due to their timeliness, with, for example, the Net Zero Affordable Housing Program having the opportunity to immediately support renovations at the Broadway site that will: a) reduce greenhouse gas emissions; b) improve local air quality; c) reduce operating expenditures which could be reallocated for more affordable housing units; and d) support our community’s values around equity and “One Community”. Moreover, the lack of federal leadership on climate and sustainability activities, combined with the increasing intensity, and frequency of natural disasters, makes local climate action an imperative.
In light of these realities, this budget amendment calls for funding to support a work plan that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in an equitable and just manner, focusing on enhancing the adaptive capacity of those most in need (e.g., vulnerable populations). The work plan is designed to be a living, iterative document that the Office of Sustainability and Innovations can adjust based on feedback, successes, and lessons learned. The work plan and associated budget adjustment are supported by the City’s Energy and Environmental Commissions.
The requested budget adjustment will support work in 7 core areas:
• Net Zero Affordable Housing - $200,000.00 to cover the cost of solar, equipment electrification, and any unplanned energy upgrades on affordable housing in which the Ann Arbor Housing Commission has an interest.
• Professional Development - $14,000.00 to ensure that all staff in the Office have the proper training and supplemental skills required to deliver high-quality programs and services as outlined in the work plan.
• Educational and Community Outreach/ Engagement Materials - $10,000.00 to develop, design, and disseminate sustainability and climate-related messaging, education, and engagement materials.
• Resilience Hubs - $10,000.00 seed funding to start the first Ann Arbor resilience hub which will help foster community social cohesion while also providing resources for the community in advance of, during, and post disaster. We are also actively seeking funding to support full-scale implementation of this program.
• Municipal Clean and Renewable Strategy Implementation - $25,000.00 to support feasibility studies, legal analyses, and any other pre-work necessary before implementing large-scale solar installations on city properties (see the draft strategy for 100% Clean & Renewable Municipal Operations, attached, for more information).
• EV Charging Stations - $15,000.00 to purchase 3 EV charging stations for municipal and public use (note: we have already budgeted the resources to purchase 3 electric vehicles for the City’s fleet).
• Staffing - $39,000 to support the incremental staffing costs required to implement the aforementioned programs.
Budget Impact: Funding for these programs is requested from 0100 - The County Mental Health Millage. It was estimated at the Office of Sustainability and Innovations would receive $880,000.00 per year for 8 years as part of this millage. To-date, only $75,000.00 of this funding has been allocated for FY19. Given that the Office of Sustainability and Innovations is new, the budget prepared for FY19 was an estimate, which was prepared before the Manager for the Office was hired. As such, adequate budget for programmatic support outlined in the attached Work Plan was not requested. In order to begin implementing these programs in a timely fashion, the aforementioned budget adjustment is necessary.
Staff
Prepared by: Missy Stults, Office of Sustainability and Innovations
Reviewed by: Marti Praschan, Public Services Area Administrator
Reviewed by: Tom Crawford, CFO
Approved by: Howard Lazarus, City Administrator
Body
Whereas, In December 2012, with the passage (by the Ann Arbor City Council) of the Climate Action Plan (CAP), the City of Ann Arbor committed to an ambitious multi-strategy vision to address Climate Change by reducing its community-wide greenhouse emissions (8% by 2015, 25% by 2025, and 90% by 2050 relative to year 2000 baseline carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions levels);
Whereas, City Council unanimously reaffirmed the local commitment to climate action in Resolution R-17-238 (“Resolution Committing the City of Ann Arbor to Adopt, Honor and Uphold Paris Climate Agreement Goals”);
Whereas, Mayor Christopher Taylor has endorsed and signed onto the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and U.S. Climate Mayors initiatives;
Whereas, City Council unanimously voted to approve the One Community initiative, thereby establishing equity as a priority for all city decision making;
Whereas, City Council unanimously adopted a resolution committing the city of Ann Arbor to using 100% clean and renewable energy for municipal operations;
Whereas, The Office of Sustainability and Innovations was created in FY19 in order to actualize the goals created and reaffirmed by City Council;
Whereas, The promotion of climate action and sustainability are important goals to the City and its residents but insufficient resources have traditionally existed to bring municipal action in line with community aspiration;
Whereas, City Council realizes that climate change has direct and pressing impacts on all aspects of public health, including mental health;
Whereas, City Council voted to allocate 40% of the County Mental Health Millage rebate to support Climate Action programs in the City in order to overcome the funding deficit for climate and sustainability programs; and
Whereas, The Office of Sustainability and Innovations is requesting a $313,000.00 appropriation to be advanced from the City’s General Fund Balance to be repaid by the climate program portion of the county’s Mental Health Millage funds upon receipt of the FY19 millage funding;
RESOLVED, That the City Council approve an advance of $313,000.00 from the General Fund balance to increase revenue and expenditure budgets in the County Mental Health fund, to be made available to the Office of Sustainability and Innovations without regard to fiscal year, and repaid by the County Mental Health Rebate by June 30, 2019;
RESOLVED, That the Office of Sustainability and Innovations staff be authorized to move forward with implementing the work plan as outlined; and
RESOLVED, That the City Administrator be authorized to take all appropriate actions to implement this resolution.