Tacoma broken window repair money snapped up as city continues to receive requests
Members of the Tacoma City Council’s Economic Development Committee on Tuesday received an update on how the city’s broken window replacement program for businesses is going.
Bottom line, while many received assistance, the need persists for more repairs, and not just for broken windows.
“If there were additional (American Rescue Plan Act) funds available to the business community, they would be put to use,” Shari Hart, economic development specialist with the City of Tacoma, told committee members.
The city earlier this year established the Window Replacement Support Fund using $300,000 in ARPA funds. The program was meant to offset costs incurred replacing broken windows as the city experienced rising crime. The project was proposed in February amid businesses calling for more security and aid for repairs. It was developed by the city’s Community and Economic Development Department.
The fund put a limit on $2,000 in grant funding per address.
In an update, Hart said Tuesday that applicants receiving funds were notified April 6 and the Chamber of Commerce has been working with recipients to obtain the required documentation for processing and payouts.
The city received 208 applications totaling $356,216 in requests.
“We set a target parameter to fund 70% of windows already replaced with 30% set aside for those not yet repaired,” Hart said, noting that “the need was closer to 50-50.
“Many people were wanting to know if they could get the grant before scheduling replacement.”
She said that after sorting through the applications, they then worked to distribute the grants in equal measure to each council district.
“When the original number of grants available was determined to be around 165 and 170, that meant 33 or 34 grants per council district. So applicants in council districts that had less than 34 were automatically all funded.”
She added that “The balance of the restaurant retrofit grant from the ARPA Small Business fund allocation was added to the window replacement fund to allow a funding for more grants, which increased the total available grants to 174,” with the combined fund totaling $345,467.37.
So far, 65 grants have been paid out, with 34 ready to pay out and the Chamber still working with 75 applicants to complete their repairs and submit paperwork, Hart said.
However, “there have been multiple additional requests for assistance beginning the day after the grant application closed,” with some locations being vandalized “multiple times,” she said.
She offered the example of one unidentified business reporting “10 broken windows and $45,000 damage over the last seven months.” Other requests have been to cover the cost of air conditioning units stolen with a reported cost of about $30,000 each time, Hart said. In addition there have been requests to pay the costs of damage to a metal fence, metal doors and other items.
Hart said some businesses have cited fears of filing claims with insurance that would trigger rate increases, or the damage was not covered by the business’ insurance.
She added it would be hard to put a number on how many businesses still could use repair money for broken windows, but that she hears from potential applicants seeking funds “not only for broken windows but reimbursement for other expenses due to the increase in crime and vandalism.”
A $250,000 fund for short-term private security enhancements, administered by neighborhood business districts using ARPA funds, also is under way.
As to whether the window program could expand, Hart told The News Tribune via email, “The next step is dependent upon the availability of additional ARPA funding and, if additional ARPA funding becomes available, we would need to determine whether we will update eligibility parameters.”
This story was originally published June 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
