Posted: 3:40 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, 2015

County to distribute $1.8M in federal funds to needy areas

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/denise-g-callahan/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

BUTLER COUNTY — 

    Butler County plans to distribute $1.8 million in federal funds to help cities, townships and villages with capital improvements and to help residents with housing.

    The county commissioners perused the list of $2.9 million worth of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME fund requests on Monday, a list the Consolidated Planning Committee had already shaved by about $1 million.

    The largest project on the list is $176,000 for curb and gutter replacement in the Alamo Heights area of Hanover Twp. The city of Middletown — which is large enough to qualify on its own for Department of Housing and Urban Development funding, but partners with the county — had the largest housing request at $200,000 for down payment assistance.

    A few items on the list gave the three commissioners pause, namely a new water tower in the village of New Miami that hasn’t been deployed because it needs a water pressure valve. Commissioner Don Dixon said he doesn’t understand how the village could ask for $129,000 to fix alleys, when they have a water tower that needs attention.

    “They’ve got a brand new tank that’s been sitting there for years, that they can’t use because they can’t come up with a $400 valve. And I’m going to give them money to do alleys? I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t get it.”

    Dixon suggested they use the money to help the village come up with a plan to address their water system, including getting the valve installed.

    Acting New Miami Mayor Bob Henley said the village’s public affairs board, which controls utilities, has been dragging its feet on the water tower valve, that was built four or five years ago, but he doesn’t know why. He said the village controls the independent board’s purse strings but not the board itself.

    “It supposedly was funded a couple times and hasn’t been done yet,” Henley said. “We’ve been on the water department for a number of years to get that done. Having that water tower there and not operational, it kind of ticks us off a little bit.”

    Commissioner Cindy Carpenter also had an issue with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS). Not that their proposed $18,000 allotment is too high, but rather that they are too strict in their down payment assistance approval guidelines. She said she sent several people there and they were turned down. She asked if the rules could be relaxed.

    Desmond Maaytah, community development manager for the county, has checked on Carpenter’s request but said they are already as lenient as HUD allows. He was told the issue is that people aren’t qualifying for mortgages and if you can’t get a mortgage you don’t need a down payment.

    “Before 2008 pretty much anybody that had a heartbeat could get some type of mortgage,” he said. “But it’s kind of built in now really, the banks are a lot stricter with your debt ratios and that type of thing.”

    NHS received about $230,000 to $250,000 in federal down payment assistance last year and there is still $100,000 unused, hence the $18,000 allotment rather than the $150,000 they were seeking.

    The federal funds, once approved by the commissioners, will also finance some street resurfacing, home repair assistance, demolition and two Habitat for Humanity homes, among other projects and assistance. The funds must be spent to better low-to-moderate income areas.