BY ANDREA OLIVIO
Staff Writer
Budget cuts proposed at the federal level are threatening community development funds across the nation and hitting close to home in Middlesex County.
The Bush administration has proposed the consolidation of some 18 federal grant programs, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, into a new grant initiative known as the Strengthening America’s Communities (SAC) program.
The new SAC program is designed to replace duplicate efforts, improve accountability in grant programs, and better target the funds to needed areas. Proponents of the new program say a major problem with the CDBG program is that many wealthier communities receive the funding, undermining CDBG’s purpose. The CDBG program was specifically created to serve distressed communities, but 38 percent of the funds currently goes to communities and states with less poverty than the national average.
Local officials said the cuts will greatly diminish support given annually to their communities and bring an end to important efforts.
The CDBG program is one of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s longest-running programs, having been signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1974. CDBG provides funds to improve housing for low-income and disabled people, expand economic opportunities, provide upgrades on public properties for people with disabilities, and restore historic sites.
Sayreville Business Administrator Jeffry Bertrand said the cuts will be felt in his municipality. The borough was granted $280,000 last year, but it would not receive any money under the new program. Sayreville has previously used the money to renovate parks and recreational areas and to rehabilitate private houses so that the residents could stay in their homes.
“It’s one less home we could do, one less park we could rehab, one less place for someone to live,” Bertrand said.
Middlesex County Director of Housing and Community Development John Sully said the proposal would turn the grants into an economic development program. He said 19 towns in Middlesex County receive the funding, and without it would have to pay for any of the needed projects through taxes.
East Brunswick has received $911,000 in CDBG funds since 1995, using it for improvements to low-income apartments, to make parks and municipal facilities more accessible to people with disabilities, for historic preservation endeavors and a variety of other efforts.
Jamesburg receives about $48,000 a year for similar programs.
An analysis performed by professor Stephen Fuller of George Mason University, Washington, D.C., in 2001 showed that over the first 25 years of the CDBG program, projects it funded created 2 million jobs and contributed more than $129 billion to the gross domestic product.
A coalition consisting of the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the National Community Development Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and other organizations has formed to protect CDBG from elimination and to oppose the creation of the new Strengthening America’s Communities program. If unsuccessful, the CDBG program will end after this year.
In Ocean County, Brick Township Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli is concerned that without the program, many community service organizations will suffer as well. The mayor cited Providence House, Interfaith Hospitality Network, Meals on Wheels and Ocean County Hunger Relief as receiving funding.
“Every day, these organizations help our residents in a wide variety of ways,” Scarpelli said.
In 2004, Brick received $438,000 in CDBG funding, of which more than $250,000 was used for housing rehabilitation in the community.
Democratic Congressman Rush Holt is among the many who are vocal in opposing the cuts. Holt will work with other New Jersey congress members “to do all that is possible to reverse these reckless cuts to basic social services, which are so vital to New Jersey’s working families,” a spokesman said.