Future of Bay City's community development block grant funding could be in jeopardy

By Shannon Murphy | The Bay City Times

BAY CITY — Nearly $1.5 million in grant funding this year is expected to help local organizations, such as free health clinics and homeless shelters, and assist with repairing roads and sidewalks.

But that Community Development Block Grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could be on the chopping block.

Bay City, which recently submitted its plan for the allocation of the grant, is planning for a 7.5 percent reduction for 2011 funding, said Debbie Kiesel, the city’s redevelopment coordinator.

“We had to keep up with a budget by March 4,” she said. “But (the federal government) is projecting everything from leaving us at the same amount to zeroing it out.

“It’s quite possible we could get nothing.”

Erin Donar, a spokeswoman for U.S. Congressman Dale Kildee, D-Flint, said there are many proposals about community development funding. One that recently passed in the U.S. House includes a large cut to the funding for this year, but Donar said that is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate. And the president’s 2012 budget includes a 7.5 percent cut to the block grants.

“The funds are likely to be cut by some extent,” she said, adding that Kildee is a strong supporter of the grants and will do what he can to keep them.

In 2010, the city received $1.56 million in funding. This year, officials have budgeted for $1.45 million.

Steven Black, Bay City’s deputy manager of community development, said the grants have been around for decades and have survived potential cuts before.

“We expect to receive funding,” Black said, “But we are anticipating there will be a reduction.”

The grants help several public service programs, such as utility assistance at the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission; free health care at the Helen M. Nickless Volunteer Clinic and domestic violence programs at the Bay Area Women’s Center.

Nearly $200,000 was budgeted for public service programs. The rest went to housing and infrastructure programs, such as $75,000 to Bay Area Housing for neighborhood preservation and the city’s sidewalk replacement — $250,000 was budgeted to replace sidewalks in the 4th Ward.

This year, Kiesel said funding left over from previous years will be used to replace Adams Street, most likely from McKinley to Columbus.

Kiesel said city officials expect to find out at the end of next week how much money they could get from grant funding.

Jan Rise, a member of the city’s Coordinating Council which makes recommendations on grant allocations to city staff, said the budgeting process went well this year.

The Coordinating Council, which is made up of volunteers from various citizens district councils, was tasked this year with deciding funding for the public service portion of the grant funding. City staff made the allocations for housing and infrastructure.

“We have a certain amount of money, and we allocated it for what we thought was the best use,” Rise said. “We try to look at how it will best serve the low- and moderate-income residents.”

Rise said as funding sources become more difficult to obtain for various nonprofits, the money from the block grants become even more important.

“I think everyone is aware of all these challenges,” she said.