Commission goes to bat for HUD

By BRENDA ALLUMSnews@kilgorenewsherald.com

Kilgore City Commissioners added ammunition to the arsenal of rural communities Tuesday night by approving a resolution opposing the elimination of the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG).

President Bush has suggested eliminating and combining several programs in his proposed budget. One calls for the elimination of key community development and housing programs through the Department of Urban Development.

Bush has proposed the elimination of the CDBG program from the 2006 budget. Over the past 10 years, Congress has funded the CDBG programs to the tune of at least $4 billion each fiscal year.

“The funding commitment to CDBG demonstrates that Congress has long recognized the inherent and real value of the program.” said Gary Traylor of Traylor Associates, a company specializing in grant writing.

Through CDBG, states like Texas, receive funds for the rural and community development programs. Kilgore has benefited from the $250,000 grants as witnessed by the water and sewer improvements.

Charles Stone, executive director of the Texas Office of Rural and Community Affairs, met with representatives from Gregg County, including Mayor Joe T. Parker, earlier this week and told them federal funding for the block grant program is under the gun.

“We are currently only funding first-time water and sewer projects,” Stone said.

That would eliminate Kilgore if its application for next year’s funding had not been ranked number one when reviewed.

“Kilgore was lucky this time,” Parker said. “But we need to support other small cities and communities.”

Traylor said CDBG is “a highly effective program allowing cities, counties and states to undertake a variety of affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization activities that are unique to their particular needs.

“It has also been a major creator of jobs and a promoter of home ownership opportunities ... CDBG has made a real difference in the lives of our nation’s low-and-moderate income families,” he said.

Gladewater Mayor John Paul Tallent, whose grant application for next year just barely did not make the cut, said without the funds his community will not be able to fund a necessary water project in the amount of about $70,000.

Kilgore’s commissioners unanimously approved the proposal requesting Congress “support maintaining the CDBG program at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $4.7 billion appropriation for CDBG for Fiscal Year 2006.”

Parker told commissioners that Stone mentioned a rural health care fund, administered through ORCA, that could possibly help communities with high priority and much needed projects. Stone urged the mayors to look into the program to see if they qualify.

“I suggest County Judge Bill Stoudt write a letter requesting the grant,” Stone said. “That would probably result in ORCA conducting a town meeting on the proposal. Right now the STEP program is getting the highest priority.”

City commissioners also approved a resolution supporting HB 1512 now in committee in the Texas House of Representatives. The bill, proposed by Rep. Tommy Merritt, supports funding an extensive study of the East Texas Oil Field.

The bill, if approved, would authorize the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin to complete a state-of-the-art study to determine ways to arrest the present decline in production from the oil field and methods of recovering the remaining 6000 million barrels of oil.

The bill was approved during the last session of the legislature but vetoed by Gov. Perry.

“This should have been passed before now,” Kilgore Commissioner Randy Renshaw said.

Commissioners also approved spending $10,000 from the Water Contingency Fund for the emergency repair of a pump at the Surface Water Treatment Plant.

Final payment of $7,790 was approved to McKinney and Moore, Inc. for improvements at the Surface Water Treatment Plant and the liquid ammonia sulfate chemical feed system.

In other business, commissioners certified tax abatements grants to local industries by the Kilgore Economic Development Corporation (KEDC). They certified abatements for seven industries, found one local industry in non-compliance and denied the abatement and canceled the contract with Orange X since it is no longer located in the city

Claud Wallace was approved as the election judge for the May 7 election and Latane Speer the alternate judge. Ramon Estrada was approved as the bilingual early voting clerk.