Milwaukee Rising

City cuts programs to cope with CDBG funding woes

March 3, 2008 -- The Common Council last week cut funding for the Health Department, Milwaukee Public Library, Department of Neighborhood Services and a number of community groups and agencies to offset a $1.2 million cut in federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME funding.

The cuts will affect lead abatement, code enforcement and housing improvement efforts.

The council also eliminated the $400,000 large impact development pool.

The council reduced CDBG funding for the Health Department's in-house lead program by $350,000, to $498,498. CDBG funding was earmarked in the city budget to pay for a lead risk assessor to pay for lead abatement of housing units.

CDBG funding was cut by $150,000, to $461,964, for the Department of Neighborhood Services code enforcement effort related to the city's Neighborhood Improvement Program.

The comptroller's office was cut by $100,000 and the library was cut by $56,848,

Private agencies also were slashed. The West End Development Corp.'s Community Housing Development Organization lost a total of $70,000, according to city records. The Gibraltar Development Corp., Harambee Ombudsman Project, Social Development Commission and YMCA of Metro Milwaukee each were cut by $29,816.

The council also increased CDBG funding by $19,500 for the Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin.