San Mateo County staff are evaluating 315 applications requesting Measure K sales tax funds as part of a community process to match the Board of Supervisors' priorities in three critical areas: children, families and seniors; emergency preparedness; and housing and homelessness.
The County published a Notice of Funding Opportunity requesting proposals in November 2023 and the application window closed last Friday, January 5. County staff worked over the weekend to process applications so testing can begin this week.
The requests total 750 million dollars in three years. The first year of requests alone amounts to more than 251 million dollars. This is more than seven times the $35 million to $37 million available annually in the county, meaning the money available can only cover 14 percent of requests.
?We are asking for bold and innovative ideas to serve our residents and I am confident that this important pool of applicants is full of them. But, frankly, the requests far exceed the funds we have available? said the county executive, Mike Callagy.
“The evaluation committees will review each application thoroughly and carefully to ensure that funds are allocated to those projects that provide the greatest good to the greatest part of the county and the most vulnerable,” he added.
Of the 315 applications received, 232 are services for children, families and seniors ($158.8 million in first year applications); 28 address emergency preparedness (19 million in first-year applications); and 55 address housing and homelessness (73.4 million in first-year applications).
The county said in a statement that the evaluation committees are not required to recommend equal funding in each priority area to the Board.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to hear funding recommendations in March 2024 and contracts to begin July 1, 2024.
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