Posted: 3:46 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016
Butler County accepting federal grant applications
By
Denise G. Callahan
Staff Writer
BUTLER COUNTY —
It’s
time once again for Butler
County communities to
apply for Community Development Block Grant funds and HOME grants for projects
in the low-to-moderate income areas of the county.
Community
Development Manager Desmond Maaytah hasn’t received budget figures from the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but he is expecting the
county will be able to dole out about $1.1 million in CDBG grants and almost
$600,000 in HOME funds.
“CDBG
and HOME funds go to assist LMI (low-to-moderate income) areas, persons,
eliminate slums and blight and assist limited clientele people, such as
homeless and disabled in Butler
County,” Maaytah said.
“The commissioners have assisted thousands of LMI persons in many areas of the
county since 1999 with these programs.”
The
commissioners will have the final say in which projects get approved for
funding and he has sent application packets to 100 organizations in the county
that have expressed interest in the past.
“We
do this every year , we think we evaluate the projects prudently,” Commissioner
T.C. Rogers said. “And like the old phrase says, we want to get the most bang
for the buck.”
The
funds are to be used in low and moderate income areas, like New Miami, where
the commissioners sent $40,000 in CDBG funds to the village so it could install
a pressure reducing valve on
their brand new $1 million water tower that had been sitting dormant since
2009.
The largest CDBG project this year was
for $248,000 for South Main Street
road improvements in Lemon Twp. and $200,000 worth of home down payment
assistance for Middletown,
which is in a consortium with the county for the federal programs.
The commissioners also approved
$125,000 in St. Clair Twp. to
help about 100 residents of the Williamsdale subdivision hook up to the new
sewer system.
The
deadline for applications is Nov. 3 and Maaytah said the commissioners will
make their picks sometime in January.