Spokane Valley to decide whether to stay with county’s federal grant program

The Spokane Valley City Council will decide on Tuesday whether to continue to allow Spokane County to manage its low-income projects grant program or end its agreement with the county and create a program of its own.

If Spokane Valley goes its own way, the City Council would have more say on how that money from the Community Development Block Grant program is spent. Those funds come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and must be used in low- to moderate-income communities.

If the city ends the partnership with the county, it would have more responsibilities, would need to hire two employees to administer the program and have slightly less to spend on projects.

Spokane Valley has received an average of $538,000 a year since 2006, not counting administrative costs. If the city struck out on its own, HUD estimated it would receive $520,000 a year, according to a city staff presentation on the issue. The funds would be for 2021 to 2023.

Under the current agreement, HUD distributes the grants to Spokane County, which manages the money and administrative duties on behalf of cities in the region.

Spokane Valley is large enough to receive funding directly from HUD, but has chosen since 2006 to be a part of the county’s program.

Some City Council members, such as Mayor Ben Wick and Brandi Peetz, are in favor of splitting off from the county in hopes of getting more local control and leverage when discussing region-wide issues like homelessness.

In a City Council meeting last week, Wick said he felt that council members weren’t always included in regional meetings. He said he was looking for a way to make sure the council was more involved.

“If we disagree with them right now and they already have our money already, what teeth do we have to say no we don’t really want that direction,” Wick said. “They already have our money and they can do it without us. How do we empower our city council to be better representatives of our community?”

Others, such as Arne Woodard and Rod Higgins worry the city would have less money to spend on projects because the city would have to use a portion of the grants it receives to cover the wages and benefits of the employees who oversee the programs.

Higgins also argued during a meeting last week that the city would have a say in how its funding is spent if it enters a new agreement with the county.

“I’m hearing the premise that we don’t have input, and I’m not entirely in agreement with that,” Higgins said. “It sounds as if these decisions are made in vacuum without us. I don’t see that happening.”

Under the agreement Spokane County offered Spokane Valley to stay in the regional consortium, the council would have a chance to weigh in on every new CDGB project within its borders; would get more mayor-appointed representatives on the board that makes recommendation how to spend the block grant money; and would receive a larger percentage of funds. Spokane Valley agreed to increase the funding set aside for Spokane Valley-only projects from 20% of the funds available to 39%.

City staff recommended the council continue to partner with the county to keep administrative costs down and have more money to spend on projects.

If Spokane Valley chooses to stay in an agreement with the county, Spokane County would allow the city of Spokane Valley more visibility on CDGB program materials and more participation in making recommendations on how to use the funds and there would be more money set aside for Spokane Valley projects.

Higgins argued that the county had addressed many of Spokane Valley’s concerns and added that the city shouldn’t taking on new challenges while still trying to address COVID-19.

“This is a business decision and it would be a bad one if we were to go off on our own,” Higgins said. “We’ve got a good deal, let’s stick with it for the foreseeable future.”

The Spokane Valley City Council will vote on this decision during its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday. In-person attendance is canceled due to COVID-19, but the public can still watch the meeting on Channel 14 or stream it online.

Written public comment can be submitted online, or people can request a video or call in public comment before 4 p.m. the day of the meeting on the city’s website.