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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Carry-over of ASSET funds pertaining to Emergency Residence Project RESOLUTION NO. 16-443 RESOLUTION APPROVING 2015/16 ASSET DRAW-DOWN REGARDING EMERGENCY RESIDENCE PROJECT FOR THE CITY OF AMES WHEREAS, the City has funded services from the Emergency Residence Project (ERP) through the ASSET process for a number of years; the City's FY 2015/16 contract with ERP is $73,000, and the FY 2016/17 contract amount is $76,500; and, WHEREAS, ERP is funded for two services: Emergency Assistance for Basic Material Needs (shelter), and Transitional Housing; and, WHEREAS, for FY 2015/16, all $4,500 in Transitional Housing funds have been drawn down; a total of$28,272.42 remains unpaid in that year for the shelter program; and, WHEREAS,during the City's budget season,the City Council expressed concern regarding whether the City was paying for ERP clients from outside the Ames community; and, WHEREAS,City staff reviewed the bills and discovered that a substantial number of clients billed to the City had last mailing addresses outside the City of Ames; and, WHEREAS,in April,City staff met with ERP and asked ERP staff to no longer submit bills for clients who indicate last mailing addresses outside of Ames, and ERP staff indicated that even by submitting only"Ames"clients, ERP could draw down the City's allocation in its entirety each year; and, WHEREAS, in June, the City received a drawn-down request from ERP, which again contained non-Ames clients in the shelter program;City staff rejected this drawn-down request and asked to receive a bill containing only Ames clients; and, WHEREAS, shortly thereafter,City staff conferred with County staff to compare bills, and this review identified 35 instances in the past three years where a portion of a client's stay was billed to the City and a portion billed to the County; and, WHEREAS, without having the County's records, the City's bill appears incomplete and possibly duplicative of the County's; and, WHEREAS,following this review of prior billings,the City received a corrected final draw- down request from ERP to replace the June request that had contained non-City clients, and City staff has not yet paid that claim; and, WHEREAS,ERP staff has received a list of the bills in question and is reviewing its original records to provide further information to City and County staff;and City and County staff have asked ERP to develop procedures and policies to eliminate the possibility of discrepancies such as this occurring in the future; and, WHEREAS, due to the transient nature of the clients for the shelter service, determining when a person with no permanent residence becomes a resident of the Ames community is an issue that does not have an obvious answer; for many years, it appears the City's practice has been to accept bills from ERP for any client, regardless of the most recent known address; and, WHEREAS, when the funders accept bills for clients outside their jurisdictions, it appears the conditions are enhanced for some sort of cross-billing to take place; and, WHEREAS, moving forward, the City has indicated to ERP that only City clients will be accepted, although the County has not discussed whether it will do the same with County clients; and, WHEREAS, the City's deadline to submit requests for drawn-down under the FY 2015/16 contract was in mid-July,and the Finance Department is now completing the close-out of that fiscal year; and, WHEREAS, City staff is not comfortable paying the final $28,272.42 owed on ERP's FY 2015/16 contract until that claim can be scrutinized and these past billing issues are resolved; however, the previous fiscal year needs to be closed out; and, WHEREAS,normally,at the end of a fiscal year,any balance remaining unpaid on ASSET contracts is returned to the Local Option Sales Tax Fund balance. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Ames, Iowa, that the carry-over of funds from the Emergency Residence Proj ect's remaining FY 2015/16 balance, where it can be paid out once City staff is satisfied its claims are in order, is hereby approved. ADOPTED THIS 26`h day of July, 2016. Diane R. Voss, City Clerk Ann H. Campbell, Mayor Introduced by: Gartin Seconded by: Betcher Voting aye: Betcher, Corrieri, Gartin,Nelson, Orazem Voting nay: Beatty-Hansen Absent: None Resolution declared adopted and signed by the Mayor this 26' day of July, 2016.