Budget Question # 069: What is the fiscal impact of delaying collection of permit fees until Oct 2022? Are we able to provide ARPA (or other) funding to assist business owners with fees and with costs of platforms? (Mayor Wilson, Vice Mayor Jackson, Councilwoman Gaskins)

Response: 

Staff do not anticipate any fiscal impact from delaying the collection of fees until October 2022. The resolution adopted by Council on March 8, 2022 provides for annual permits to be issued starting on October 1, 2022. Anticipated fee revenue would still be collected in the same fiscal year, and permits for parklets would be issued annually. Changing the date would only shift the date on which the fees are collected. The parklet fees are currently structured as a set fee for an annual permit between October 1 and September 30 of the following year.

Funding for assistance with the cost of designing and building parklets is not budgeted at this time. Staff are investigating the possibility of a similar program to the ALX B2B All Weather Grant program administered by the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership in Winter 2020. That program offered $5,000 grants to qualifying businesses to cover certain expenses. In October 2020, Council approved $500,000 of CARES funding for winterization grants.

 If half of the current parklet permit holders opt to continue under the permanent program and each would apply for a similar grant, such a program would cost approximately $80,000 in grant funds. Additional considerations include the administrative costs to disburse and manage these grants. T&ES estimates that such a program could be administered by 33% of an Urban Planner II at a cost of approximately $40,000. Potential sources of funds for a grant program could include ARPA funds.

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