FEDERAL BLOCK GRANT Mayor: Use funds for housing rehab
The council president questioned the level of police service in the area.
SHARON, Pa. -- Fred Hoffman, council president, doesn't think the city should be tapping its federal Community Development Block Grant for $50,000 to pay for a police officer to work in Zone 5.
Zone 5 is a police designation for the Quinby-Malleable Street area, generally considered a low-income area, where the city once had a police substation.
CDBG funds are targeted at providing services to low-income people. When the city first tapped that pool of money to provide increased police services in Zone 5, it was to have an officer stationed there.
The substation is gone, and the city no longer is providing the same level of community-oriented policing services there, Hoffman said.
The city is misleading the federal government to continue using the $50,000 for that purpose, Hoffman said during a public hearing Thursday on the proposed 2005 CDBG budget.
The money should be shifted into housing rehabilitation instead, he said, threatening to call HUD -- which oversees the CDBG program -- on the issue.
Joseph Fragle, city community development director, said he would check into the matter.
Policing the area
Seeking to justify the spending, Mayor David O. Ryan said the city still assigns officers to Zone 5 when personnel are available.
There are also special police impact patrols in that area on a regular basis, said Michael Gasparich, city finance director.
A breakdown of the 2005 proposed budget shows:
UAdministration: $184,800.
UPublic services (streets, curbs, etc.): $303,590.
UHousing rehabilitation: $140,000.
UDemolition and clearance; $100,000.
UCode enforcement: $60,000.
UPublic service (including a Zone 5 officer): $135,610.