Uniontown to feel budget pinch
Uniontown, its redevelopment authority and the Downtown Business District Authority (DBDA) would be impacted by spending cuts in the proposed 2011 state budget and by federal spending reductions, a city official said.
State programs that provide grants for various initiatives that the authority and DBDA oversee would be reorganized under Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed 2011 budget, Uniontown Redevelopment Authority executive director Mark Yauger said at the authority’s annual meeting last week
“It looks like we’re going to face some tough times to come,” Yauger.
Some grant opportunities will be available through the reorganized state programs, but less money will be available and federal budget cuts are likely to impact the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, he said.
The state Department of Community and Economic Development’s (DCED) would continue to administer the Elm Street program, which the redevelopment authority participates in, and the Main Street program, which the DBDA participates in, through a new program called Keystone Communities.
Keystone Communities would replace the New Communities program.
New Communities had a $25 million budget this year, but the Keystone Communities budget is $12.5 million the DCED’s budget has been reduced by $114 million, or 32 percent, in the proposed budget, Yauger said.
Keystone Communities is designed to make the grant application process more competitive. Grants would be awarded to applicants that can show positive results from previous grant programs, he said.
During the last several years, the redevelopment authority has received more than $2 million in grants for the city from various programs administered through the New Communities program.
A $500,000 “Core Communities” grant was used to purchase blighted property in the North Gallatin Avenue neighborhood, Yauger said.
Through the Elm Street program, which is intended to revitalize residential neighborhoods, the city received three $250,000 grants for the North Gallatin Avenue neighborhood and one $250,000 grant for the East End neighborhood for property acquisition, demolition, housing rehabilitation and sidewalk replacement.
Yauger said new sidewalks will be installed in front the new homes that are being constructed on Maple Street using “Neighborhood Stabilization Program” grants from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Housing rehabilitation projects are under way and some property acquisition and demolition money remains unspent, he said.
Construction of the 30 rent-to-own houses on scattered lots in the Lafayette and East End neighborhoods in 2009 was aided by a $500,000 “Housing Redevelopment Assistance” (HRA) grant from the DCED. Grant money was used to demolish the blighted homes that used to occupy the lots.
The HRA grant was used in a public-private partnership. Fayette County Community Action Agency and PIRHL Development of Cleveland, Ohio, joined forces to form Uniontown Family Homes, which used tax credit financing to build the homes. The development cost $7.5 million.
The HRA program is not funded in the proposed budget, Yauger said.
The redevelopment authority hired Jeff McLaughlin as the Elm Street manager for the North Gallatin Avenue neighborhood in 2008 using a $150,000 grant to pay for his salary, benefits and offices expenses for three years. His $31,000 salary was reduced last year so an assistant could be hired.
McLaughlin also is the city’s Weed and Seed program coordinator and receives $25,000 in salary from that program.
The Weed and Seed program, which is administered through the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency, is not funded in the proposed budget, Yauger said.
That program is aimed at reducing crime and revitalizing the North Gallatin Avenue, East End and Lafayette neighborhoods.
The Weed and Seed program also provides $25,000 to pay the wages of a police officer to work in those neighborhoods and $50,000 for overtime for police to conduct drug sweeps in the neighborhoods.
Yauger said the city police department just submitted a request for payment of $7,000 in overtime wages from the most recent drug sweep.
Uniontown was one of only two municipalities in the state to receive a Weed and Seed grant in 2009.
The DBDA hired Connie Burd, the Main Street manager, using grant money from that program and local matching funds in 2008. The DBDA received a $160,000 four-year grant that was matched by city and private funds totaling $96,500.
The goal of the DBDA and the Main Street program is to improve the central business district. They provide low-interest business loans for building renovations and matching grants for façade improvements.
A 62 percent cut in the CDBG program has been proposed in the federal budget, Yauger said.
The city and authority use CDBG money for a variety of projects, including the annual payment on the city’s newest fire truck, demolition of blighted houses, housing rehabilitation and the Morgantown Street storm sewer project.
Yauger said the DCED, which administers the CDBG program for the federal government, instructed the authority to proceed with a hearing, which was held last week, to gather public input on how to spend the 2011 grant.
The instructions require the city to base the hearing on the assumption of receiving $374,984, which is what the city received in 2009, he said, noting that the grant was about $390,000 in 2010.
The DCED also told the authority not to take any further action on the grant application until a federal budget is adopted, he said.