Wichita plans to double emergency fund as COVID-19 expenses near million-dollar mark
Having already spent almost all of the $1 million set aside for Wichita’s response to coronavirus COVID-19, the city is poised to double its emergency fund to fight the disease.
A request to put an additional $1 million into the fund will come before the Wichita City Council on Tuesday and Mayor Brandon Whipple said he doesn’t expect any opposition.
“The thought moving forward is we’re going to be able to be reimbursed for this money,” Whipple said. “Our staff are conservative enough with their interpretations (of what’s reimbursable) to where we can feel confident about it.
“It would probably be a different discussion if that wasn’t the case, because as most people who are following us know, we’re in a bit of a budget crunch.”
The action to increase the special fund comes as the city’s direct COVID-related expenses are about to pass the million-dollar mark, according to a report from City Manager Robert Layton.
“This has included costs for equipment and supplies, overtime for responders, salary and benefit costs for staff directly assigned to the response activities, and salary and benefit costs absorbed by the City for employees that were furloughed or otherwise unable to work,” the report said.
The federal government has indicated that it will reimburse money spent directly on COVID-19 response, but not lost taxes and fee income from reduced commerce due to the pandemic.
The council has been holding a series of budget hearings aimed at cutting an estimated $11.5 million in spending this year and nearly $17 million next year.
To keep COVID-19 spending separate from other city expenses, the council on April 7 gave city staff authority to borrow $1 million using general obligation bonds and set up the special coronavirus-response fund.
“It is essential to have a mechanism in place to segregate the costs related to the COVID-19 response to meet (federal) requirements for reporting and supporting documentation,” according to Layton’s report. “In addition, the project budget provides the City flexibility to utilize the issuance of General Obligation bonds to fund any appropriate unreimbursed costs.”
The council will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The meeting will be streamed live on the city’s public access Channel 7 on Cox Cable; on the city’s YouTube channel and on its Facebook page.
To comply with social distancing guidelines, residents who want to comment on this or any agenda item can do so from a remote conferencing site at the Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center, 225 W. Douglas, Wichita.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 4:43 PM.
