Skokie makes hard grant decisions in reduced budget

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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:23AM

Skokie would like nothing better than to have the same problem it had last year with community development block grant funding.

Only in reverse.

Last year, the village had to amend its annual grant budget when federal allocation of funds did not meet village projections.

This year, the village is estimating a 10 percent cut in funding but holding onto the hope that the cut won’t be so great.

The federal Housing and Urban Development provides CDBG funding to Skokie to allocate for village and outside agency projects.

The CDBG program is intended primarily as a bricks-and-mortar program, which is why social service proposals are capped at 15 percent.

Village Trustees Monday approved a community development block grant fund budget of $439,105 factoring in estimated federal funding of $425,000 as well as past funds that were not allocated and program income.

But planner Carrie Haberstich, the village’s CDBG administrator, said that unofficial word is that funding could be cut by 5 percent and not the 10 percent factored into the budget.

“Last week, staff discovered a CDBG funding spreadsheet allocation on-line for HUD’s upcoming funding cycle,” Haberstich said. “It indicates the village of Skokie could receive...$23,900 more than what staff estimated to date. This preliminary allocation has not been verified by HUD staff and an official letter of entitlement funding has not been received.”

But if the information is accurate, the village would be able to fund some projects that were shut out of the budget and provide additional funding for the village’s social worker position.

As the budget stands now though, the village’s economic development department had to make hard decisions since it received requests from both village staff and outside agencies totaling $605,000.

“We were unable to recommend funding for all of the proposals,” Haberstich said.

Only one outside agency — Metropolitan Family Services — received its full funding request of $5,000.

That funding will provide counseling services to low/moderate-income Skokie residents.

In the past, the organization requested only capital improvement and rehabilitation funding.

The village’s Human Services Division depends on the organization on “an almost daily basis,” Haberstich said.

On the other side, several agencies were shut out in their proposals.

Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs was turned down in its request for funding for “tenant/landlord counseling” activities.

But Trustee Randy Roberts said future CDBG budgets should place greater priority on the housing services this organization offers. Since 2007, he noted, 2,235 properties have been foreclosed on in Skokie.

Funding was also turned down for the Housing Authority of Cook County (HACC) to help build handicapped accessible ramps.

Haberstich said it was unclear as to the scope and magnitude of the project.

The village also questioned a high estimate for concrete and said the agency had a “lack of sufficient documentation demonstrating proactive measures to locate other sources of funding.”

Projects from Search Inc. and Turning Point Behavioral Care were not funded in the budget, but they could receive financial support if additional federal funding comes in.

Trustee Michael Lorge, said he would like some of that additional funding to go to the village’s social worker position.

The village requested $35,380, the same amount received last year, but the allocation is for $27,605.

Lorge said that that’s a bigger hit than other agencies with similar funding requests are taking.

“I appreciate that it’s important for the village to show that we are taking the hits as well as all of our supporting agencies,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think the village though should shoulder the “lion’s share” of the cutbacks.

Social service projects in the overall CDBG budget totaled $64,605 while construction projects totaled $289,500, thereby meeting federal rules.

This is also the second year the village is requiring a 25 percent match for agencies receiving funding for construction projects.

“We don’t envy the work,” Lorge told economic development administrators. “This is a much difficult process trying to determine where these resources go