Furlough Day For City Workers, Housing Fund Used For Hotels

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston is facing an eight-figure budget shortfall this year due to the new coronavirus, according to city officials. In response, city employees are set to take a furlough day next week, saving the city millions. Staff are also seeking federal grants to offset some of the costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a remotely conducted City Council meeting Monday, Mayor Steve Hagerty said city staff previously estimated aldermen would have to confront a $10 million budget shortfall. But that was based on a June 1 end to restrictions in Gov. J.B. Pritzker's statewide stay-at-home order issued in response to the spread of COVID-19.

"That means the budget could be even worse than $10 million," Hagerty said. "I just want people in the public to know, these are going to be difficult decisions. These aren't decisions that anybody on this council, or I, or the city manager's office ever wanted to face, but they're going to have to be made."

Hagerty said the City Council would discuss some of the the budget challenges presented by the pandemic at its May 26 meeting.

"It's going to be some shared sacrifice," he said. "Hopefully it will be equitable in how the council and city manager's office and I go about doing this. But it's just going to be a really difficult process, but we have no choice."

Interim City Manager Erika Storlie said Monday she implemented furlough days for all union staff and negotiated arrangements with the city's four unions — firefighters, police, police sergeants and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — that could account for $2.2 million.

On Wednesday, city staff announced a citywide furlough day the following Monday — May 18. Most non-emergency city operations and services will be shuttered. Police, fire, water production and the city's COVID-19 response will continue, according to a release.

Street cleaning will be canceled, youth meals distribution and refuse collection will be delayed. It was not immediately clear if all four unions had agreed to take a furlough day.

Also Monday, the City Council approved a plan to use the city's Affordable Housing Fund to pay for hotel rooms for homeless people and emergency personnel or other residents who require isolation or quarantine due to exposure to the new coronavirus.

Aldermen voted unanimously Monday to allocate $1 million from the fund, which contains about $2.2 million, to avoid having to borrow or use the city's general fund. But they hope to be able to get most, if not all, of it back.

City officials hope to have 75 percent of the cost reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The remaining costs could be covered through grant funding the city is set to receive through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act, according to a memo to the mayor and aldermen from housing and grants administrator Sarah Flax.

The city has spent about $450,000 since March 23 and plans to spend another $325,000 on hotel rooms, food, transportation and other supplies for about 200 homeless residents, as well as those who have tested positive or been exposed to the virus but are unable to quarantine at their own homes, Flax said.

According to agreements with the hotels, the city arranged to pay $100,000 every two weeks for 40 rooms at Margarita European Inn, 1566 Oak Ave., and $35,392 every two weeks, plus $50 a day per person for food and other services, for 30 rooms at Hilton Garden Inn Chicago North Shore/Evanston, 1818 Maple Street.

Flax said hotel stays for the homeless would continue for the duration of Pritzker's stay-at-home order, while those who require temporary isolation can stay in the hotel rooms for 14 days at a time.

Read more: Evanston Hotels Shelter Homeless During Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Order