New Braunfels City Council members on Monday approved a plan with a local foundation that would provide up to $500,000 from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation to provide utility bill assistance to residents.
The program’s establishment comes as a heat wave, the increasing price of natural gas and the state’s redesigning the electricity market to prioritize reliability over price have driven utility bills through the roof this summer.
The city received about $10.9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Under the agreement with the city, the McKenna Foundation would disburse funds to nonprofit organizations providing utility assistance through an application process that expands those programs.
According to Assistant City Manager Jared Werner, nonprofit organizations would utilize existing criteria and expand eligibility where necessary to prioritize those in most critical need.
“The eligibility for these programs is absolutely correlated to how much funding is allocated to begin with,” Werner told council members. “The infusion of funds should allow for these nonprofits to determine how best to ensure that these funds get to those families and individuals most in need.”
The agreement terminates after all funds have been exhausted or Sept. 30, 2023, whichever comes first. However, council members said that the $500,000 was “a starting point” and expressed interest in allocating more funds for the program if needs warrant it.
“This is difficult because I know the concern has been raised of are we doing enough,” Council member Jason Hurta said. “It’s difficult to really know how much that $500,000 is going to stretch. I’d certainly be open to increasing that…because I feel it will go quick.”
The McKenna Foundation will not assess administrative costs to support the program under the agreement. All funds will directly go to households and individuals most in need of utility assistance.
McKenna is also tasked with collecting data from nonprofit organizations to demonstrate program outputs such as the number of individuals and households served and the amount of assistance provided.
“At the McKenna Foundation, this is our business,” Alice Jewell, CEO of the McKenna Foundation, told council members. “We do nonprofits. We do grant applications. We do tracking. We do data, and we do that in real-time. We can have that communication come back rather quickly. If we see that $500,000 is expended and there’s more need there, we can get that information to you, and probably in no time. We can turn money around really fast because ultimately, people in the community need it.”
Jewell added that four nonprofit organizations maintain utility bill assistance programs on an ongoing basis: New Braunfels Food Bank, Community Council of South Central Texas, Family Life Center and the Salvation Army.
She said those four organizations expended about $900,000 in utility bill relief funds in 2021.
The federal government requires that funding through the American Rescue Plan be used to support the public health response in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, address the negative economic impacts of the pandemic or make investments targeted at serving the hardest-hit communities and families.
New Braunfels Utilities continues to urge its customers experiencing hardship and needing help to contact the utility’s customer service department to set up payment arrangements by calling 830-629-8400 Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or email customerservice@nbutexas.com.
Also during Monday’s meeting, council members:
• Approved a resolution setting a public hearing to amend water and wastewater impact fees for the Oct. 24 council meeting.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment establishing a no parking zone on the east side of North Academy Avenue between both intersections with Springs Nursery.
• Postponed action on the first reading of an ordinance reducing the speed limit within the Park Ridge Estates subdivision until Sept. 26.
• Postponed action on the first reading of an ordinance amendment creating a loading zone on Jester Ridge near Flintshire Drive until Sept. 26.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance setting the speed limit at 35 mph on Morningside Drive between Schmidt Avenue and Solms Road.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance setting the speed limit at 35 mph on Alves Lane between State Highway 46 and Barbarosa Road.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment that would provide an application process for the establishment and use of a privately operated cemetery within the city.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment revising citation no parking zones to tow-away zones.
• Postponed action indefinitely on an ordinance amendment establishing a no parking zone on Loop 337 Ramp between Loop 337 and Church Hill Drive.
• Approved a settlement agreement between Carowest Land Ltd. and the city related to four pending lawsuits.
• Approved an expense of $366,751 for additional construction costs associated with the previously approved advanced funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation for intersection improvements on Barbarosa Road at Farm-to-Market Road 1101.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter an agreement with Comal County to perform duties relating to collection of special assessments levied by the Solms Landing Public Improvement District.
• Approved a $71,610 contract with Presidio for information security testing, assessment and associated deliverables.
• Approved a recommendation of the New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation to renew a contract with the Spark Small Business Center for a grant in an amount not to exceed $210,000 to operate the SPARK Small Business Center.
• Approved a recommendation of the New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation to enter an agreement with Thinksmart Planning, Inc. in the amount of up to $122,500 for the development of a master plan for the Comal County Fairgrounds.
• Approved a professional services agreement up to $290,000 with the New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation.
• Postponed action on a three-year professional services agreement between the New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation and the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce for an economic development program until Sept. 26.
• Approved a $358,350 purchase with Scranton Manufacturing Company, Inc. for one automated side load collection vehicle for the Solid Waste and Recycling Division.
• Approved an interlocal cooperative purchasing agreement with National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance for goods and services.
• Approved a contract with Yates Company LLC for the installation of an HVAC direct digital controls system at City Hall.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance establishing the number of positions at the New Braunfels Fire Department to 146 and at the Police Department to 154.
• Approved the second and final reading of a proposed rezoning from “SND-1” Special Neighborhood District to “C-O” Commercial Office District with a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residential structure at 930 S. Castell Ave.
• Approved the second and final reading of a proposed rezoning to apply a special use permit to allow short term rental of a residence in the “C-1” Local Business District at 262 N. Union Ave.
• Approved the second and final reading of a proposed rezoning to apply a special use permit to allow short term rental of a residence in the “C-1” Local Business District at 296 N. Union Ave.
• Approved the second and final reading of a proposed rezoning from “C-3 AH” Commercial District Airport Hazard Overlay and “APD AH” Agricultural Pre-Development District Airport Hazard Overlay to “MU-A AH” Low Intensity Mixed-Use District Airport Hazard Overlay at 1983 State Highway 46 South.
