Middletown could lose thousands of dollars in federal grant money if it fails to demolish 300 vacant, dilapidated homes by the end of the year. And city officials said Thursday they are already behind schedule.

City officials are using a $1.35 million Moving Ohio Forward grant from the Attorney General’s Office to raze the 300 homes throughout Middletown. If the city doesn’t reach its goal by Dec. 31, then it will lose a prorated amount of money.

So far, the city has torn down 89 homes with about 215 more yet to be contracted out for demolition. The city has about $2.4 million to spend — the city had to match the federal grant with $1.1 million of its own — which equates to an estimated average of $8,000 per house for all 300.

Community Revitalization Director Doug Adkins said the city is “a little behind” schedule to tear down these homes because “it took ramp-up time to get each piece of the puzzle operating at full capacity to meet our expectations.” That included title searches, asbestos surveys, contractor walk-throughs and bidding, and then the demolition, he said.

“We have a number of contractors working, and we should meet our objective,” Adkins said. “The grant runs out on Dec. 31. Any homes not completed will not be paid, so we’ll manage that process more and more closely as the months move along.”

The grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office came from a federal multi-billion settlement with five of the nation’s largest mortgage providers. Ohio’s share of that settlement was $335 million and the attorney general committed $75 million to the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program to demolish vacant and abandoned properties. The money was divided among the state’s 88 counties.

In recent years, the city has attempted to remove blighted homes with limited funding, mostly with government grants. Very few have been razed with Community Development Block Grant funds in recent years, but since 2009 the city has razed around 80 blighted homes with the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds.

But as the city is tearing down these properties, they are selling them off in order to put them back on the tax rolls.

And most people who have bought the land are using it to expand their yards, which is the goal of Elizabeth Miller of 608 Crawford St. She’s in the process of buying 606 Crawford St., which City Council approved to sell for $500 in June.

“She bought it because we didn’t have a yard and wanted it for recreation purposes,” said Josh Kettlehake, Miller’s boyfriend. Miller was not available for comment Thursday afternoon.

Since 2010, the city has sold 17 parcels to property owners. Of these 17 properties, nine had some type of structure that needed to be torn down. The city spent more than $60,000 in grant money to clear the land, but more than a collective $8,200 of city funds to maintain these properties.

It costs about $40 per mow to cut the grass at a residential lot, and the city spends about $400 per city-owned residential lot a year. The cost rises and falls depending on the size of the lots and growth of the grass, city officials said.

The 17 properties were sold for a collective $8,705, though three properties — which were approved earlier this year by City Council to sell — have yet to be transferred to the property owners’ names, according to the Butler County Auditor’s records.

By the numbers

The city of Middletown has invested $1.1 million to receive a $1.35 million grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s office to raze hundreds of homes by the end of this year. The goal is around 300 homes.

89: The number of homes razed

215: The number of homes yet to be demolished on the city’s list

$8,000: The average estimated cost to raze 300 homes with the $2.4 million the city has to demolish dilapidated homes.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office said any county that does not spend its Moving Ohio Forward Grant money by the end of the year can have five more months.

In Friday’s Middletown Journal, we reported that the city of Middletown was behind on the pace to raze its estimated 300 homes using the grant money — which is specifically dedicated to tear down dilapidated and abandoned homes — but officials were optimistic about reaching its goal by the end of the year.

However, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Friday morning that deadline will be moved back to May 31.

“I am pleased with the progress made by communities to raze abandoned and blighted homes,” DeWine said. “By extending the deadline through late spring, we hope that counties will continue to take advantage of the funds available to them to get rid of abandoned homes that have attracted crime and are community eyesores.”

The city has razed 89 homes and has its sights on demolishing another 215 homes.

Cities and counties that have received the funds had asked for an extension due to inclement weather, and finding qualified demolition contractors in some areas was also an issue, according to DeWine. Middletown Community Revitilization Director Doug Adkins couldn’t be reached for comment on if Middletown was among those that requested extensions.

The Moving Ohio Forward Grant came from a federal multi-billion settlement with five of the nation’s largest mortgage providers. Ohio’s share of that settlement was $335 million and the attorney general committed $75 million to the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program to demolish dilapidated and abandoned properties. The money was divided among the state’s 88 counties.

Middletown, as well as the city of Hamilton, were the only two cities in the county to receive the grant money. They equally split the county’s $2.7 million share but were required to match it with $1.1 million.

To date the Attorney General’s Office has reimbursed counties more than $22.3 million and documented a total of more than $36.6 million in the demolition of more than 4,700 units. The average cost per demolition is $7,700.

Statewide, nearly $22.37 million has been reimbursed to communities that have razed homes, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Middletown and Hamilton collectively have been reimbursed $559,835.