BACKGROUND:
After budget updates during the fall of 2022 and Council’s authorization of additional personnel in certain key areas, CM Ross asked for consideration of a position to develop grant requests and manage the grant reporting process. Council agreed to schedule a future agenda item to discuss the topic.
DISCUSSION:
Each department was asked to prepare a five-year history of grant applications prepared, whether they were prepared by staff or contractors and any grants awarded.
The data provided were compiled in the table displayed below. For each department the table shows the number of grants written by staff and the number awarded followed by the amount awarded through grants prepared by staff. The table then shows the number written by contractors, the amount paid to the contractor and the number awarded. The final column shows the amount awarded through grants prepared by contractors.
Department Staff
Written/Awarded
Amt. Awarded Contract
Written/Amt./Awarded
Amt. Awarded
Public
Works/Eng.
6/5* $5,525,349 19/$173,822/11* $18,394,639
Police 17/16 $1,288,851.68 1/$1,440/1 $85,780.08
Fire 6/5 $47,557
Planning 2/2 $150,000
CM Office 1/1 $17,500
TOTALS 32/29 $7,029,257.68 20/$175,262/12 $18,480,419.10 *1 awaiting decision * 4 awaiting decision on $3,916,000 The totals show that Cathedral City has been very successful in obtaining grant awards receiving a total of $25,509,676.68 over the study period. This does not include awards received prior to the study period such as the amphitheater grant ($1,400,000) the Ofelia Bringas bridge grant ($26,721,250) and the Date Palm bridge grant ($19,724,686).
The grants prepared by staff resulted in an average of $1,405,851.54 in awards annually with no direct expenditures other than staff time and materials necessary to complete the grant applications. Having a grant writer on staff would free up staff time spent preparing the grant applications to work on other priorities. It is expected, however, that some staff participation would still be required to identify and explain relevant operational activities and priorities.
The grants prepared by contractors resulted in an average of $3,696,083.82 in awards annually. This number could increase to $4,479,283.82 if all the outstanding applications receive awards. The direct cost to prepare the applications averaged $35,052.40 annually and was supplemented by staff time required to guide and assist the contractor. The amount paid to contractors annually is less than what a full-time position would cost the city each year.
The addition of a Senior Analyst position with a salary range of $75,856 - $99,293 would cost approximately $114,248 annually if a hire is made at the minimum of the range or $127,398 with a mid-range hire including all benefits and employer PERS contributions.
The Senior Analyst is the recommended job classification should Council decide to create the position. This classification level is high enough to attract a person with the necessary research and writing skills to do the job and is a flexible job classification which will allow the employee to assist with research and writing projects and other non- grant related duties during occasions when the grant work is not full-time.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The addition of a Senior Analyst position with a salary range of $75,856 - $99,293 would cost approximately $114,248 annually if a hire is made at the minimum of the range or $127,398 with a mid-range hire including all benefits and employer PERS contributions.