MERCER COUNTY Bond issue for housing agency?
The local authority has had to cut back the scope of some work.
SHARON, Pa. -- The Mercer County Housing Authority may join two dozen other authorities across the state to borrow money for capital improvement projects.
L. DeWitt Boosel, executive director, told his board Wednesday that the authorities are being forced to look for their own financing because federal capital improvement grants are slowly shrinking.
Mercer County used to get annual allocations of $1.8 million to improve its facilities but that number has slipped to $1.3 million annually, he said.
The shortage has forced the authority to reduce the scope of improvements to its housing complexes, he said.
As many as two dozen public housing authorities across the state are looking at borrowing money through a joint bond issue of $400 million to $500 million to help finance their projects, he said.
Mercer County hasn't figured out yet how much of that money it will need to supplement federal grant funds, he said.
The joint borrowing project could come up for authority approvals in March and the money could be in hand by the end of this year, Boosel said.
Savings program
In other business, the board approved setting up a Family Savings Account program at First National Bank of Pennsylvania.
The program is designed to use a state grant of $54,750 to provide a dollar-for-dollar match, up to a total of $2,000, for qualified families who put money into the special account to save to buy a home, pay for home repairs, start up a business or finance education.
The program will run for a two-year period.
Boosel said there are income qualifications that savers must meet but the program is open to anyone, not just housing authority tenants.