Los Banos to direct federal funds to downtown gift card program, homeless assistance

The Los Banos City Council approved a $2.5 million allocation in federal stimulus funds last week, moving forward to pursue a downtown business gift card program, a homeless assistance program and other priorities discussed over the last several months.

Several priorities emerged in previous weeks as city officials and members of the community discussed how to spend Los Banos’s money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

One such program, called a “RAD card” program, would help local businesses with the help from matching funds from the city.

Up to $1 million of Los Banos’ ARPA money was allocated for the RAD card program and each card would have a $100 limit.

Other priorities outlined included:

• A $200,000 allocation in investment in technology and equipment for the Los Banos Police Department.
• $250,000 in upgrades for city-owned properties for replacing HVAC systems.
• A $100,000 allocation for a homelessness assistance program.
• A $75,000 investment in Colorado Ball Park.

Water and wastewater infrastructure, broadband infrastructure, investments in parks, small business loans and employee COVID-19 testing were also projects that city staff discussed on Wednesday, although they weren’t expected to be funded with ARPA money.

About $9.8 million in federal stimulus was slated to go to Los Banos, according to the Merced County website. City officials expect the rest of that money by July 2022.

“Nice to see this moving forward,” said Mayor Tom Faria. “We’re going to keep moving forward as we can.”

The “RAD card” program, which was designed by the Downtown Modesto Partnership and funded by local donors and ARPA funds, is essentially a gift card that can only be used at participating businesses downtown (RAD stands for Relief Across Downtown).

Rather than a physical card, the RAD card is a digital card available through Apple’s app store or Google Play. Businesses that benefit from the RAD card don’t have to pay processing fees associated with most credit cards, according to the RAD card website.

RAD card programs were established in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, according to the Downtown Modesto Partnership, which started the programs. The organization would also help the city of Los Banos roll out its program.

“It sounds like a really good program to help our businesses especially as they struggled during the time of COVID,” said Lewis, who represents District 4. “ I just wanted to give an extra push on that and hope we can get that program moving as quickly as possible so we can reinvest in the businesses that were able to stand during COVID.”

A small business loan program, also on the table on Wednesday, was not unanimously supported by members of the council.

While there was some support for a loan program if it included clearly defined terms and conditions, some thought a small business loan program wouldn’t be the best use of city ARPA money.

It was decided that city staff would gather more information about a potential small business loan program before the City Council would definitively move forward.

Councilmembers Brett Jones and Deborah Lewis said they disagreed with using the federal funds for a small business loans program.

“We’re going to get in a lot of trouble if people find out we’re handing out free money, if we’re going to go down that road,” said Jones, who represents District 3. “I would urge you to reconsider this before we get a lot of staff time tied up in this.”

This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 3:51 PM.