Modesto OKs more money for downtown library and classic cars museum. What gets cut?

The City Council has approved reallocating more of Modesto’s $45.9 million in pandemic relief funding in response to requests from the Friends of the Modesto Library and the Graffiti USA Classic Car Museum.

Modesto had nearly $7.3 million to reallocate at the council’s April 17 Finance Committee budget workshop. But the council approved $7.6 million at its June 4 meeting.

The Friends of the Library now is receiving $500,000 — $300,000 more than city officials recommended at the workshop — and the Graffiti Museum is receiving $350,000 in a new request. Modesto made the math work by removing four city projects totaling $650,000, along with other adjustments.

The projects that were removed include $300,000 for the purchase of a new wildland engine for the Fire Department and $200,000 to expand free public Wi-Fi.

The $45.9 million is from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which President Joe Biden signed in March 2021. Modesto received half of its ARPA money in 2021 and the other half in 2022.

Modesto is reallocating some of its ARPA funding because it won’t meet the timelines for obligating and spending the money, it ended up not needing as much money for a project, or it found other funding. The city has to return any ARPA funding it has not spent by Dec. 31, 2026, to the U.S. Treasury.

Council members voted 7-0 at their June 4 meeting to approve the $7.6 million based on city officials’ recommendations but had no comment about the allocations for the Friends of the Library and the Graffiti Museum.

However, there was much discussion among council members at the April 17 budget workshop regarding the Friends of the Library. (The museum had not made a funding request then.)

The museum, which opened in 2023, needs to raise $3 million to complete the next phase of its construction.

The Friends of the Library is raising $3 million for furnishings and other enhancements to complement Stanislaus County’s $18.1 million renovation of its flagship library in downtown Modesto.

Councilman Chris Ricci said at the workshop that although the library is owned by the county, the city should be contributing $500,000 because the library is an “important piece of downtown” and Modesto has a history of not investing in its downtown.

Councilman Jeremiah Williams pointed to downtown’s Gallo Center for Arts, which he said was primarily paid for by the county and donations, with the city contributing little. Williams said the library plays a key role in improving literacy rates.

But Councilman David Wright said the library is the county’s responsibility and the city takes on too many responsibilities, such as homelessness, that belong to the county. Wright said the city owns the library’s parking lot and suggested the city contribute by repaving and repairing the lot.

City Manager Joe Lopez told council members at the workshop he had to “dig deep” to come up with $200,000 for the Friends of the Library because the city has so many other priorities with its own facilities, especially in its parks, that are not fully funded.

The other allocations approved by the City Council include:

▪ $2 million to reserves to the $194 million general fund for the city’s 2024-25 budget, which starts July 1.

▪ $500,000 to the Boys and Girls Club and the youth golf program First Tee.

▪ $400,000 for the design work for a new Dryden Golf Course clubhouse. The old one was destroyed by an August 2020 fire.

▪ $3.27 million for the renovations of Cesar Chavez and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parks.

▪ $600,000 for The Awesome Spot, an inclusive playground at Beyer Community Park. An inclusive playground is one where children with disabilities can play side by side with able-bodied peers, or disabled parents can join their kids on the equipment.

▪ $25,000 for the Gallo Center for the Arts’ Family Fun Fest.

This is the second time City Council has given ARPA money to The Awesome Spot and the Graffiti Museum. The previous contributions were $500,000 each.

Modesto has spent or allocated its remaining ARPA funding on such efforts as $1.8 million to the Downtown Streets Team, which helps homeless people, $2.85 million to tackle the maintenance backlog in city trees, $6.55 million for bonuses of as much as $7,500 for city employees who worked during the pandemic, $1 million to help small businesses and $500,000 to the Modesto Children’s Museum.