YOUNGSTOWN — City council on Wednesday will consider legislation authorizing the board of control to spend $423,800 in federal COVID-19 relief funds to purchase a truck and two dumpsters, and for a second set of gear for firefighters.

The money comes from $2,359,224 the city received in additional COVID-19 funding through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The city already spent about $125,000 of that funding for items such as an X-ray inspection system, laptops, iPads, metal detectors and a hands-free intercom system for city hall.

The rest of the money — about $1.81 million — will pay a portion of salaries and benefits of police officers, firefighters and emergency 911 dispatch employees, who’ve had to devote time during their work days for COVID-19 mitigation and response, said Kyle Miasek, interim finance director. That money would be for work done after Aug. 31.

The city already used $2,922,024 from the first two rounds of the CARES Act for expenses between March 15 and Aug. 31 in the police, fire, emergency 911, health, parks and recreation, and finance departments for COVID-19 expenses.

Council will vote Wednesday on two separate pieces of legislation to permit the board of control to make purchases with the latest round of money. Members will first discuss the items Monday at a finance committee meeting.

MATTRESS MESS

The first item is $204,800 to buy a roll-off truck and two 40-yard roll-off dumpsters to transport and dispose of abandoned mattresses.

The city has had about 1,200 abandoned mattresses since the pandemic began in mid-March compared to about 200 annually during the past three years.

The increase was caused by the city no longer collecting mattresses with regular trash that weren’t wrapped in plastic, and people cleaning out their houses at a higher rate than usual and leaving old mattresses unwrapped curbside or in abandoned houses, city Health Commissioner Erin Bishop said.

Because of that, the city has to pay one company to collect the mattresses and another to take them to the landfill, Miasek said.

“Now, the street department will do the work,” he said. “It will be a savings as it’s a cost we no longer will incur.”

FIREFIGHTERS

The second item is $219,000 to purchase 115 sets of turnout gear, custom-fitted coats and pants worn by firefighters when they respond to fires and other emergencies.

Because of the pandemic and to reduce spread among firefighters, turnout gear has been required to be decontaminated after every emergency call, Miasek said. That’s resulted in firefighter units at times being taken out of service until the gear could be cleaned, he said.

“Having the second set of turnout gear will take care of that problem,” Miasek said.

The $5,281,248 in total federal COVID-19 funding means the city won’t end this year with a deficit, Miasek said.

Largely because of the pandemic, the city’s income tax collections are $2.38 million, or 6.1 percent, under budget, he said. The city could end the year about $2.5 million to $2.6 million short of its budgeted $46,214,000 income tax amount, Miasek said.

In addition to the CARES Act money, the city received a $700,000 workers’ compensation refund earlier this year and is getting a second $1.7 million refund shortly. It also saved about $300,000 as a result of employee furloughs between late May and late July.

But Miasek said he’s concerned about future years because there likely won’tbe federal money to bail out the city.

There is a proposal in the state Legislature to repeal a change in state law that allows municipalities that collect income tax to continue to do so from those working there but are now working from home because of the pandemic.

The city gets about 88 percent of its income tax — at a rate of 2.75 percent — from those living outside Youngstown, Miasek said.

Also, even if that repeal doesn’t happen, cities are likely to see a decline in income taxes because the pandemic has led to more people working from home on a permanent basis, Miasek said.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com