Agenda Date: 11/19/2024
Subject:
Title
Resolution 120-2024: Approving community partnerships and other grant awards
Body
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From: |
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager |
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Prepared by: |
Lucy Lucero, Executive Assistant |
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Presentations: |
Mike Gent, Deputy City Manager |
PURPOSE:
Allocating and awarding 2025 Stadium District Funding grants, 2025 Local Partnership Funding grants, and 2025 Arts & Culture Board Lodgers Tax Funding grants, as well as approving community partnerships to manage awarded grants.
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
Vibrant Community with a Rich Culture
DISCUSSION:
Council held a study session on October 8, 2024, to review and determine allocations for Local Partnership grants, Stadium Funding grants, and Lodger’s Tax grants, and provided direction regarding the amounts to award in each category. This agenda item presents these grant awards as directed in the study session. Council requested information on the value of the in-kind grant application awards and that information (services values at $58,300) is included below.
Every year the Littleton City Council considers requests for Local Partnership Funding (LPF) grant applications from organizations that serve Littleton residents. Requests may include operational, one-time special purpose grants, or event sponsorships (in-kind or cash). The grant categories are Human Services, Community Events, and Other. LPF grants in the amount of $71,600 were awarded in 2024.
Council directed staff to include Stadium District Funding (SDF) grants as part of this grant awarding process. Stadium District Funds are revenues the city received in 2022 as a result of Littleton’s inclusion in the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, the entity that owns Empower Field at Mile High. Littleton received a one-time payment of $1,229,200.72 with the funds designated to be used for “youth activity” programs. In 2023, council awarded $761,400 in SDF grants to organizations serving Littleton residents. The SDF grant funds will be disbursed in January 2025 or as soon as a 2025 grant agreement is executed. The SDF balance is $452,228. The 2025 fund balance may increase slightly due to interest earned on the fund.
In November 2022, Littleton citizens approved the creation of a 5% Lodgers Tax on hotels, motels, and short-term rental hosts within the city limits. The revenue from this tax supports and sustains arts and culture, tourism, and visitor promotion in the Littleton city limits. Collection of the Lodgers Tax began in January 2023, and the first annual distribution of the revenue occurred in 2024 in the amount of $850,000.
Grant Funding Process
Applications for the 2025 Stadium District Funding grant cycle and the 2025 Local Partnership Funding grant cycle opened on June 17, 2024, and closed on July 15, 2024. Council received the applications, a grant summary, and a scoring sheet and was asked to review and score the SDF and LPF grant applications from September 12 to September 26, 2024. Council collectively reviewed the consolidated and ranked list for LPF and SDF awards at the October 8, 2024, study session to provide staff direction for future council budget action.
Littleton Arts & Culture Board presented their 2025 Lodgers Tax Funding recommendations on October 8, 2024. The Lodgers Tax was projected to be $750,000 after the 2024 January to June tax collection was less than expected. On May 9, 2024, and July 11, 2024, the Arts & Culture Board reviewed and voted to forward funding recommendations to council for final approval, with distribution beginning in January 2025 for $748,300.
Staff then compiled these recommendations and applied the following set of criteria to determine the award recommendations presented at the October 8 study session:
- Local Partnership Funding Grants: $72,900 Budget - staff was directed by city council to distribute funding as close to the budgeted amount of $72,900 as possible. Staff reduced all grants by 10% and council did not recommend an award for two applications that were received after the grant deadline. Three grant recipients from the 2023 SDF/2024 LPF grant cycle did not spend all their funding. One grant recipient planned to spend their funding on events scheduled in August and October 2024. A second grant recipient planned to spend their funding during the 2024/2025 winter season to provide motel vouchers for unhoused individuals. The third grant recipient spent approximately ten percent of the grant received and planned to use the remaining funds during the 2024/2025 school year. The final recommended award amount for LPF grants in 2025 is $71,850.
- Stadium District Funding Grants: $452,228 Budget.
o Both Local Partnership Funding and Stadium District Funding grants used these criteria to determine the award amount:
o 4 or more council members recommended an award.
o Rounding to the nearest $50.
o Reducing all Local Partnership Funding awards by 10% to stay within the allotted budget.
o Stadium District Funding grants were not reduced.
o Local Partnership Funding grants were capped at $25,000. This restriction does not apply to Stadium District Funding grants.
- In-Kind Services: Eight Requests
o 4 or more council members supported each request
- Stadium District Funding grants can only be used for youth activities
- Applicants were advised that grants would not be awarded for:
o Debt or deficit reduction
o Events outside the Littleton city limits
o Capital Improvements (A capital project is described as major construction, acquisition, or renovation activities which add value or increase the useful life of the (city’s) physical assets and is also called a capital improvement)
o For-profit events and/or activities
- Council has tasked the Arts & Culture Board with making recommendations for the 2025 Lodgers Tax, and the Board used a 4-tiered formula to determine the award amount:
o Tier 1 - Approximately 50% of revenue to be distributed equally to Littleton’s major cultural assets. For 2025, council has designated Bemis Public Library, Hudson Gardens, Littleton Museum, and Littleton Town Hall Arts Center as the Tier 1 recipients.
o Tier 2 - Approximately 25% of revenue to be distributed in grants to Littleton arts and culture organizations.
o Tier 3 - Approximately 15% of revenue to be used for tourism marketing and visitor promotion.
o Tier 4 - Approximately 10% of revenue to be used for public art acquisition and programming, historic preservation, and other needs that meet the intent of the Lodgers Tax ballot language.
- The Arts & Culture Board recommended grant funds to seven organizations that also applied for SDF and LPF grants. In 2023, City Council gave the direction that applicants in future grant cycles would not be allowed to receive funding from both the Lodgers Tax and LPF/SDF grants to enable distributing funding to more grant applicants.
In-kind Requests:
A total of 27 applications were received for Local Partnership Funding totaling $206,100 and eight in-kind service requests with only one in-kind application not requesting a monetary grant. A total of 22 applications were received for Stadium District Funding totaling $850,480.
o South Metro Community Foundation, Longer Tables, and Immigrant Pathways Colorado’s requests were minimal as they are asking for advertisement of their events.
o Longer Tables request included reserving the event space at EPIC and providing a certificate of insurance ($150).
o Littleton Public Schools Foundation’s, The Stride, request was $250 (Museum staff time for meetings) and $3,500 (Police overtime).
o Western Welcome Week’s request included both personnel and non-personnel costs for Public Works and Police of $36,825.19.
o Four separate applications were received for the same Littleton Block Party event. In-kind services are estimated to be one-third of the Western Welcome Week services received since the event will be six hours and require less payroll hours from Police and Public Works which is approximately $12,275.06. This event has not been held since 2018.
The 2024 cost estimate to provide in-kind services for the eight applications received is approximately $53,000.25. Adding ten percent for inflation for 2025, in-kind services for all LPF applications received is estimated at $58,300.
BACKGROUND:
Local Partnership Funding and Stadium District Funding
The 2025 Proposed Budget includes $72,900 for Local Partnership Funding grants. Stadium District Funding has $452,228 in available funds and can only be used for youth activities.
Prior Actions or Discussions for LPF and SDF
On May 23, 2023, council discussed and outlined the process for awarding Stadium District Funding and directed staff to proceed with the grant application process for awarding Stadium District Funding. On October 3, 2023, City Council directed staff to use the following criteria for awarding both Local Partnership Funding and Stadium District Funding:
- Grantees will be asked to sign a Grant Agreement prior to accepting the grant acknowledging that funds will be expended within the City of Littleton.
- Grantees will be asked to sign a Grant Agreement prior to accepting the grant acknowledging that they will submit a grant progress report within six months of receiving the funds. If all the grant funds have not been spent, an additional grant progress report will be submitted six months after the first report is submitted. Any funds not spent within 18 months of receiving the grant shall be returned to the City of Littleton for distribution in future grant cycles.
- The guidance for the grant progress report was not overly prescriptive for what needs to be included in this report and generally this required report should not be overly burdensome. The report could include a summary of the program, how funds were used, results and impacts, lessons learned, future plans, etc.
- Grantees have the option of scheduling a public appearance at a regular City Council meeting to present their reports in person in lieu of submitting a written report.
- In future grant cycles, council wants to restrict eligibility of applicants who have received grants from the City of Littleton in the past year, based on whether a grant progress report has been received from the prior grant recipients before the next grant cycle the following year.
- Staff should automatically adjust recommended awards to be no greater than the applicant’s requested award amount, if applicable.
- Staff should exclude consideration of arts and culture applications within the Local Partnership Funding program since the Lodgers Tax is now available for those applicants.
- Staff shall seek experienced non-profit partners to receive funds on behalf of less experienced applicants (if agreeable to all parties involved) to ensure appropriate financial controls are in place.
- Council understands the staff recommended award reductions in the Local Partnership Funding program may be needed to stay within budget but wants as much of the budget allocated as possible.
- Grant recipients are encouraged to schedule a public appearance throughout the year to keep council apprised of their organization and how they used the awarded grant funding.
Arts & Culture Board Lodgers Tax Funding
Littleton Arts & Culture Board presented their 2025 Lodgers Tax Funding recommendations on October 8, 2024. On May 9, 2024, and July 11, 2024, the Arts & Culture Board reviewed and voted to forward funding recommendations to council for final approval, with distribution beginning in January 2025 for $748,300. With decreased revenue projections, funding recommendations have been adjusted. For the 2025 awards, The Arts & Culture Board recommends holding Tier 1 harmless and reducing Tiers 2, 3, and 4.
Prior Actions or Discussions for Lodgers Tax Funding
In November 2019, Council created the Arts & Culture Commission (now Board) with the charge to encourage and support the growth and expansion of culture and arts throughout the Littleton community. Through strategic planning, the Board developed policies and made recommendations to fund current and future arts and culture needs.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
The majority of council recommended awarding $352,500 of the available Stadium District Funding in 2025 thereby making approximately $100,000 available for future grant cycles. The majority of council recommended awarding as much of the total Local Partnership Funding budget as possible while staying within the proposed 2025 Budget.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends awarding Local Partnership Funding, Stadium District Funding, and Lodgers Tax Funding grants based on council’s recommendations and guidelines.
ALTERNATIVES:
The current award recommendations were decided by council. Council could reconsider their award recommendations.
PROPOSED MOTION:
Proposed Motion
I move to approve Resolution 120-2024 approving community partnerships and other grant awards.