PORTLAND – Annette Rogers was supposed to chair a meeting of the city’s Community Development Block Grant allocation committee Thursday, but she and the other members decided, essentially, that there was no point.

First, in President Obama’s budget there’s a proposed cut of about 17 percent to the federal Housing and Urban Development program. And the U.S. House is backing an even deeper cut — 60 percent of the money for the program, beginning July 1.

“It was pointless to meet (Thursday) because we don’t know what the figures will be,” Rogers said. “There’s nothing to talk about because we don’t know.”

If Portland’s $2.6 million in block grant funding shrinks by 60 percent, the committee will have only about $1 million to allocate, and will have to radically alter its budget for the coming year.

Cities like Portland have come to rely on the program, which comes with fewer of the strings that are usually attached to federal money.

The grants are designed to go to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. There is a cap on how much can go to social service groups and how much can be spent on brick-and-mortar projects, but otherwise, communities decide where the money goes.

“This has been a really good program,” said Peter Crichton, the manager of Cumberland County, which got $1.8 million last year and distributed it to most of the towns and cities in the county. “It’s very disappointing that it would be on the chopping block like this.”

Crichton lobbied for the program during a visit to Washington this week, but knew he was mostly “preaching to the choir” because the grants are supported by Maine’s congressional delegation.

A reduction of the kind contemplated by the House would be “cutting the legs right out from under the municipalities and the counties around the country,” he said.

The reduction was in a bill intended to keep the federal government running for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The Senate rejected the House’s proposal, so those bodies and the White House will continue negotiating over the terms to avoid a government shutdown next week.

Rogers said a reduction in funding could be “devastating” to Portland, especially since much of the money goes to programs and projects that aren’t supported by the city budget.

She said the federal money goes to soup kitchens, food pantries, the Boys and Girls Clubs, shelters and community policing programs. It also helps pay to fill potholes and maintain sidewalks and neighborhood parks.

“It’s really citywide,” Rogers said. “Portland is going to be in a mess.”

Crichton said the county spreads its money around to programs such as housing weatherization, food pantries, community ballparks and downtown improvement programs.

A few years ago, when Bridgton’s downtown sewer pipes needed emergency fixes, block grant funding provided $700,000 to get the work done without a huge hit to the town’s property taxes, Crichton said.

“These are projects that help sustain the region and have real value in terms of the economy,” he said.

“I understand that we need to make cuts (in spending) and we’re doing that as a county government, but it needs to be reasonable,” Crichton said, noting that the county’s allocation would be cut to about $700,000 under the House-backed bill.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who voted against the cut, said funding for the program in Maine would have dropped from nearly $14 million to about $5 million had the measure passed the Senate and been signed by Obama.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com

 

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