SHARON Lower rental income cuts authority's budget

Razing Steel City Terrace will cut into the authority's revenue.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- A loss of rental revenue will result in a smaller budget for the Mercer County Housing Authority in fiscal 2002-03.
L. DeWitt Boosel, executive director, presented a $2,495,143 general fund spending plan for his board's approval Wednesday.
It takes effect July 1 and is down about $4,000 from this year.
Anticipated loss in rental income is the primary factor, Boosel said, noting that that line item alone is down nearly $200,000.
The authority's 100-unit Steel City Terrace apartment complex in Farrell will be razed and the authority is not anticipating any revenue from that complex after the first few months of this year.
The project is being rebuilt and expanded but rental revenues will be going to a new management firm instead of coming to the authority.
Also down: Boosel said the general downturn in the economy has also hurt rental income.
By federal regulations, the authority can charge tenants only 30 percent of their income as rent, and tenant incomes have dropped, resulting in lower rental payments, he said.
Interest earnings are expected to be down by $56,000 next year, he said.
Rental income is only a portion of the authority's budget revenue. Most of its money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing & amp; Urban Development in the form of a grant subsidy.
Subsidy asked: Boosel said the authority is asking for $2,167,521 next year, up $222,000 from this year to offset anticipated revenue reductions.
In addition to covering general fund expenses, some of that money is channeled into the authority's capital improvement budget, raising total spending for the year to $2,874,843.