BLOCK GRANT HUD OKs Sharon's spending on police

The city council president had challenged the proposed use of the money.
SHARON, Pa. -- The city's community development director said the U.S. Department of Housing & amp; Urban Development has no problem with Sharon's allocating $50,000 in federal grant funds to police protection in the Quinby Street area.
Joseph Fragle said he spoke with HUD representatives about the allocation after Fred Hoffman, city council president, challenged the line item at a public hearing Oct. 21 on a Community Development Block Grant application.
The federal agency said that the $50,000 for a Zone 5 police officer is an eligible expense, Fragle said, even though the city no longer maintains a police substation in that area.
Zone 5 is a police designation for the Quinby-Malleable Street area, generally considered a low-income section of the city.
Sharon has been tapping its annual CDBG grant for $50,000 a year to maintain a police presence in that area, but Hoffman challenged the allocation in the latest CDBG grant application, saying the city no longer has a police substation on Quinby Street and the community-oriented policing services once provided there no longer exist.
Questioned use
Continuing to take that money for police services is misleading the federal government, Hoffman said, adding that he would call HUD on the issue if the allocation wasn't changed.
He suggested the $50,000 be shifted to the housing rehabilitation line item.
Fragle, speaking at the CDBG budget hearing, said he would check with HUD on the matter.
He did and reported that HUD said the police line item is an eligible expense even without the substation on Quinby Street.
The city still assigns a police officer to patrol that area seven hours a day, Fragle said.
CDBG funds are to be used for low- and moderate-income residents, and 51 percent of Sharon's population fits into that financial category, Fragle said, adding that fact alone would make the police line item an eligible expense.