South Coast Air Quality Management District

Recognize and Appropriate Funds for PM2.5 Program, and Add and Delete Positions

SYNPOSIS: 

EPA has allocated $767,075 to the AQMD for calendar year 2001, the fourth year of the federal PM2.5 monitoring program funded under Section 103 Grant Funds. This is the first year for which funds are available for both the base PM2.5 monitoring network and the speciated monitoring network. Previously, the Board had authorized eight staff positions to support the PM2.5 program. Based on experiences to date, one position needs to be upgraded to an Air Quality Instrument Specialist-II level in order to adequately maintain and calibrate all the PM2.5 equipment in the field. All costs associated with this program, including the requested upgrade, are fully funded by EPA. This action is to recognize $767,075 from EPA for the PM2.5 program, appropriate these funds to the FY 2000-01 Budget upon receipt, and to add and delete positions.

COMMITTEE: 

Administrative, January 12, 2001, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

1. Recognize $767,075 revenue from EPA Section 103 Grant funds for the continuation of the PM2.5 program.
   
   
2. Upon receipt of the grant, appropriate $767,075 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the Science and Technology Advancement FY 2000-01 Budget, as follows: Salaries and Employee Benefits Major Object, $494,000; Services and Supplies Major Object, $209,075; and Capital Outlays Major Object, $64,000.
   
   
3. In Science and Technology Advancement, delete a vacant Air Quality Instrument Specialist I position and add an Air Quality Instrument Specialist II position, at an annual cost increase of approximately $4,576, fully funded by EPA, to adequately maintain and calibrate PM2.5 field equipment.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

Since the inception of the PM2.5 air monitoring program in 1998, EPA has granted to AQMD, under Section 103 Grant funding, a total of $1,553,620 for the start-up and continuation of the PM2.5 monitoring at 18 locations. These funds, covering Calendar Years 1998-2000, have fully covered the costs of the required network.

Funding under this special grant program is to cover the costs of operation and maintenance of federal reference method samplers, continuous samplers, and speciation samplers, as well as laboratory analysis costs. To date, all elements of the program have been implemented successfully, with the exception of the speciation program which has been delayed over a year by EPA. Only a small portion of the funding for speciation has been provided under the Section 103 Grant, but full funding for speciation is being provided as part of the current grant.

Use of Funding

Under the Section 103 Grant program, funds can only be used for the purpose intended, and in this case, exclusively to support the PM2.5 air monitoring program. In addition to all the field and laboratory costs, these funds are used to provide the necessary staff resources. Previously, the Board authorized the addition of eight staff positions to support the PM2.5 program with the understanding that these are to be fully funded by EPA. For the base program, five of the eight positions have been filled, and the remaining positions will be filled with the additional grant funds now being provided to support the speciation program.

Consistent with EPA’s commitment to fund the PM2.5 program in entirety, the AQMD has, to date, received sufficient funding.

Proposal

For Calendar Year 2001, EPA is providing $767,075 for the PM2.5 program. This amount is slightly greater than last year to support the base program, and for the first time includes full funding for the speciation program. With previous carryover funds from last year’s Section 103 Grant, there will be a total of $1,480,440 in the
FY 2000-01 Budget.

Staff, therefore, proposes that the Board recognize and appropriate $767,075 to the FY 2000-01 Budget for the PM2.5 program implementation, as follows:
 

Previously, the Board authorized four CNG vans for the field technicians supporting the base PM2.5 program. The current budget provides for the purchase of two additional CNG vans to support the two additional field technicians needed for the speciation program.

Experience with the PM2.5 network over the last three years has indicated that equipment maintenance and calibration requires more effort than previously estimated. To meet the needs of both the base and speciation programs, more staff resources are needed at the level of Air Quality Instrument Specialist-II (AQIS-II). Therefore, staff requests that a vacant Air Quality Instrument Specialist-I positions, previously authorized by the Board for this program, be deleted and an Air Quality Instrument Specialist II position be allocated to Science and Technology Advancement.

Fiscal Impacts

All of the requests, as outlined above, including the replacment of a vacant Air Quality Specialist I position with an Air Quality Specialist II position, at an annual cost increase of approximately $4,576, are fully funded by the EPA Section 103 Grant Funds. These funds are a supplement to the FY 2000-01 Budget, and have no negative impact on the budget. It should be noted, however, for the mandated PM_2.5 program, AQMD has no assurance that EPA will continue to provide sufficient funding in subsequent years. Should sufficient funding not occur, staff will need to consider either reducing the level of the program, or readjusting existing resources to meet program commitments.

Since the receipt and appropriation of funds by the AQMD constitutes a budget supplement within the definition of Health and Safety Code Section 40720(j), public notice of this proposed supplement was published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, Riverside Press Enterprise, Orange County Register, San Bernardino Sun, and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

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