Nov 19, 2004 By Paul Sunyak 2 min read

Rather than spend the Fayette County Housing Authority’s $350,000 Section 8 Program reserve to build new public housing, board Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink suggested Thursday using the money to beef up security in existing housing projects. Zimmerlink said she was “surprised” to see the Section 8 reserve crop up as a funding source for the proposed Laurel Highlands Estates in a letter that board vice chairman James V. Bitonti sent to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

Although tax credits through the PHFA and taking on bond debt had been mentioned as funding sources for the proposed $13 million, 56-unit rebuild plan, Zimmerlink said she wasn’t aware that the Section 8 reserve was part of the mix.

In recent months the authority has been peppered with requests, particularly from Masontown Borough, for additional funds to provide essential services in public housing complexes, which basically pay only a small fraction of what normally would be collected in real estate taxes.

The authority recently held a “security summit” at Uniontown Holiday Inn to brainstorm ways to get more money to host municipalities, particularly to help fund their strained police departments.

Zimmerlink said that if the Section 8 reserve is ripe as a funding stream, top priority should be given to paying for extra police protection.

“Could we use the Section 8 proceeds to increase the services for the local police departments?” Zimmerlink asked.

“I think it’s a quick fix, but it would address some of the issues that we have,” she said.

Executive Director Thomas L. Harkless said his initial thoughts are that the Section 8 reserve could be used for a wide range of public housing-related functions.

“I believe that is an allowable expense, but I’ll check into it,” said Harkless.