The Jefferson City Finance Committee on Thursday approved a plan to supply more abatement and demolition funds to the Department of Planning and Protective Services.
Committee members unanimously approved an additional $15,000 for abatements and $200,000 for demolitions.
Abatement funds are used to secure dangerous buildings, clean up trash and mow grass on properties. Dave Helmick, a property inspector, said abatement costs are around $37,000 annually on average. Last year, it was around $28,000; he said the department is on track to spend around $27,000 this year.
"We have been able to, over the last few years, decrease that average amount we're spending through voluntary compliance education and really working with homeowners," he said.
The property owners are responsible for money the city spends to secure the property along with an administrative fee. Last year, Helmick said, just less than $60,000 came in from the program and went into the city's general fund.
"The fund really does support itself," he said.
The demolition funding would allow the city to remove at least six of the "worst dangerous buildings within the city."
The current list for that funding is 320 E. Miller St., 209 Jackson St., 405 E. Capitol Ave., 108 Jackson St., 500 E. Ashley St. and 410 E. Hess Way.
Helmick said the list is fluid and could change based on the deterioration of other buildings on the demolition list, but not part of this plan.
For instance, he said, 431 W. Miller St. could be moved up.
"On Monday, we ran squatters out of it," Helmick said. "(Wednesday) morning, I got a phone call from the CAT team that there's squatters back in there. The floor is rotting out. So, that one, due to the recent development of it getting broken into and there's further collapse of the roof, will probably be actually escalated up."
The original request was $150,000, but committee members agreed to increase it to $200,000.
"I know the need is really there and certainly since we get recovery money back," Ward 2 Councilman Mike Lester said.
The demolition budget is $20,000, which has already been spent this year on the demolition of 3024 E. Miller St.
It will need to go to the full City Council for approval.
Helmick said between this funding and disaster relief funding, which could be used for some properties, there's hope to cut the list of dangerous properties in half. Currently, the city has 11 on its demolition list with another 13 expected to be added within the year.
In other business Thursday, the committee reviewed its tax revenue for February and March reporting periods.
The city's 1 percent sales tax generated $895,779 in February and $861,134 in March - a combined $15,888 below budgeted projections.
The half-percent capital improvement tax generated $430,804 in February and $430,383 in March - a combined $132,830 above budgeted projections.
The half-percent parks sales tax brought in $430,808 in February and $430,383 in March - a combined $19,457 above budgeted projections.
City Administrator Steve Crowell said the city has not received funding from the American Rescue Plan federal funding.
The city applied for it on May 13 and is projected to receive about $7.6 million.
Crowell said the staff is still working through federal guidance about using the funds.
"Staff is going through and identifying what we think we can make from a reimbursement and replacement of revenues and then a little bit of expenditures," he said. "That'll provide some information for council."
The funding will come in two rounds, each 50 percent of what the city will receive.