CEDO Community Forum on CDBG Program September 27, 2011

CEDO is holding a community forum on September 27 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Contois Auditorium to discuss the future of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in Burlington.



CDBG is federal money that flows through the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. Burlington has been receiving CDBG money since 1983. Our CDBG funding has been cut by 22% since 2000. At best, we will continue to receive level funding at around $800,000 a year. More likely, our funding will continue to be cut and it is possible that the program may be eliminated altogether as federal budgets shrink. In that context, this community forum brings together past and present members of the CDBG Advisory Board, applicants, and residents to provide input on how best to use this public resource. The input will be gathered together, made public on CEDO’s website, and provided to the Mayor, City Council and future Advisory Boards.



Some of the questions to be discussed are:



· You can spend CDBG on many things, but uses are not unlimited. Here are the things you can spend CDBG on:

1. Housing – Acquisition of property, rehab, soft costs for new construction, homeownership
2. Economic Development – technical assistance, loans, entrepreneurial training, commercial facilities
3. Public Facilities and Infrastructure – including use of CDBG as local match for other federal funds
4. Public Services – up to 15% of the total
5. Clean-up of Contaminated Sites
6. Administration and planning – including mandatory administrative activities, up to 20% of the total

Right now, we have all categories designated as “High Priority.” Should we narrow our priorities down more, or leave flexibility to the Board to decide based on each year’s applications?



· How valuable is it / has it been to have a citizen board that sets priorities for this money by making spending recommendations that historically haven’t been changed by the Mayor and City Council? Should that process continue?



· CEDO, as a city department, is funded largely through CDBG. How should CEDO’s applications be handled? Should the Mayor set aside a “CEDO allocation” up front as part of the departmental budgeting process? Should that amount be taken out of the Advisory Board review process? Should the Advisory Board review CEDO applications at all? Should they continue to be judged against other applications?



· Should we continue to fund neighborhood grants out of CDBG? If so, should they compete against other applications? If they don’t directly compete against other applications, how should they be judged when we decide how to allocate CDBG resources, and who would decide how much to give them?



· How important is it that there is or isn’t other money potentially available to pay for the same activities? Should we restrict CDBG to funding things that agencies really have no other way to pay for? Or is it important that the city contribute CDBG to certain services / activities regardless of whether there’s other money available, because it’s important for the city to support those things?





· If CDBG were to disappear, what things that are currently funded, if any, would you want to see continue with local tax funds? Would you want to see a dedicated tax, for example, or a General Fund increase to support those things? What about a small set-aside in the Capital Fund for neighborhood projects?



The format for the meeting is:



1. Introductions

2. Brief overview – List of last year’s requests for funds and awards – Major categories of spending

3. Audience Q&A

4. Round Robin on the identified questions

5. Report out – small group facilitators will summarize input on their question area

6. Public comment – final thoughts, limited to 3 minutes per person
Gary De Carolis will facilitate the meeting. Your attendance is welcome.
Best,
Margaret Bozik