SW0501-CS050128January 28, 2005
TO:
THROUGH:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Commissioners Court
DALLAS COUNTY ·
COMMISSIONERS COURT ADMINISTRATION
Community Development Block Grant
Rick Loessberg, Director of Plauning & Development
Klm D. Nobles, Community Development Administratoi-
FY2005 CDBGPrlOME Allocation Process
BACKGROUND
Dallas County baa participated in the CDBG program since 1988. Under this program, the County
· receives federal.funding which can be used t0 undertake a wide vadety of code, capital improvement,
housing, and social service activities in the Countx~s nnlneorporated area and in fOurteen. Of its
smaller'citieS. By virtue of participating in the CDBG program, the Caunty/dso receives HOME
funding (which can only be used for such housing-related activities as rehabilitation, new
construction, and upfxont cost assistance).
HUD has recently informed staffthat the County will be receiving $2,359,986 in FY2005 CDBG
assistance and $732,840 in FY2005 HOME (including American Dream Downpayment Initiative-
ADDr) assistance; collectively, these amounts are about $95,611 higher than what the County
received for FY2004.
IMPACT ON OPERATIONS
Under the County's CDBG program, HOME/CDBG funds are 'first al!ocated for the program's .
admip!.stmtiv¢ expenses and for conso~um-wide'projects like'the Home Loan Counseling center;
these allocations cover the County's cost of operating the CDBG program and typically account for
about one-third of the program's total funding. The remaining funds are then allocated to each
participating city and to the County's unincorporated area using a formula that takes into account
each entity's low/moderate income population and total population. Each entity then determines
how it wishes to utilize this funding, and depending upon the enfity~s preference, these projects are
principally implemented by the County, the entity, or some combination of the two.
Dallas County Administration Building
411 Elm Street, 3'" Floor, Room 310 Dallas, Texas 75202-3301
E-Mail Address: KNobles@dallascount¥.org
Telephone (214) 653-6368
Telecopier (214) 653-6517
Page 2 of 4
The County typically only reviews proposed projects to ensure that they are eligible under HUD's
regulations. However, because of the adverse impact that a large number of small projects can have
on the program's ability to meet HUD's annual spending requirements, staffhas been allowed in the
past to require cities to revise their proposed list of projects (if necessary) so that larger projects
would be undertaken. To further emphasize and clarify the impmlance of having larger Projects,
staff would also like to continue to require that all projects other *hun code enforcement have
budgets of at l~ast $30,000 and to be able to s~ongly encourage cities that already have partially-
funded CDBG projects to either finish funding these projects or to continue allocating funding to
them before they begin funding new activities.
HUD regulations also require the County to establish annual program objectives for the CDBG
program. For the past several years, the County has required that CDBG projects meet at least one
of the six objective~ listed below, and for the County's FY2005 funding, staffwould propose that
these objectives continue to be utilized:
Promote Iow/moderate income homeownership;
Eliminate community-threatening conditions;
Provide for ADA-accessibility;
Improve the local economies ofcommtmities with limited tax bases, limited growth,
and/or Mgh unemployment;
Improve/malmain existing low/moderate income neighborhoods; and
Provide for orderly growth.
IMPACT ON FINANCE
A total of $3,092,826 is available f~om the County's FY2005 CDBG/HOME awards. It is preposed
that $999,126 of this total amount be allocated in the following manner:
General Administration
Housing Rehab/Replacement Admin
CDBG Project Engineer
CHDO Activities
Home Loan Counseling Center
Indirect Costs
CDBG Construction Inspector
TOTAL
$172,000
$140,000
$115,000
$105,775'
$353,900
$ 72,451
$ 40,000
$999,126
* This allocation is required under federal law and is equivalent to 15% of the
County's total HOME award; this $105,775 must be provided to special housing
non-profits (CHDOs-community housing development organizations) for use in
acquiring, rehabilitating, or producing affordable housing.
Page 3 of 4
la reviewing these proposed allocations, please note that this $999,126 total is about $41,916 lower
than last year's figure. No staffing changes are associated with any of these various
arlmlnlstmfive/service-delivery budgets. Detailed line-item budgets for the Co,mgeling Center, the
CDBG Engineer, Housing Rehab/Replacement Administration, CDBG Coustmction Inspector and
General Administration will be developed and presented to the Court for review later this summer.
It is also proposed that the $599,390 in HOME funding that is available after the required $105,775
has been set-aside for CI-IDOs be allocated for the County's housing replacement program; this
funding will be available to build replacement housing in any of the CDBG program's fourteen
cities. The ADDI component of the HOME funding, in the mount of $27,675, will be allocated to
the Home Loan Counseling Center to be used for the Up Front Cost Assistance program. The
Counseling Center reports that it still hag about $539,002 remaining from prior year HOME-ADDI
allocations.
After setting aside ftmding for the aforementioned administrative expenses and consortium-wide
programs, a total of $1,466,635 is available from the CDBG funds for the County's nnincorporated
area and for participating CDBG cities; this amount is about $30,295 more than what was available
last year.
Using the County's CDBG allocation formula, the proposed FY2005 CDBG allocation awards are
as follows:
Sachse $ 54,265 Wilmer $119,164
Cockrell Hill $135,297 Hutchina $116,598
Glenn Heights $ 83,231 Rowlett $ 98,998
Cedar Hill $103,031 Lancaster $119,531
Coppell $ 68,932 Seagoville $107,064
Duncanville $111,831 University Park *
Balch Springs $130,897 Unincorporated $114,765
Farmers Brunch $103,031
*University Park has again returned its award so that it can be redistributed among the
other participating entities.
In reviewing these mounts, please note that they are generally about $400- $8,000 smaller than What
most cities received last year. This reduction is due to the addition of a city (Coppell) that did not
participate in last year's program.
Page 4 of 4
PROJECT SCHEDULE
Application materials will be provided to each city by March 8, 2005, and the cities will then be
given until 4:00 p.m on June 3 to notify the County of how they wish to utilize this funding (such
a schedule is similar to what has been traditionally provided). If no notification is received by June
3, it will be assumed that the entity is not interested in utilizing its award. So that no city
inadvertently lets its award revert back to the program, staff will contact each city about two weeks
before June 3 to remind them of the upcoming deadline. To help encourage public input, the County
will hold a public hearing in April and in June, and the participating cities will be required to
conduct at least one public heating before submitting their project proposals to the County.
Once staffhas had the opportunity to review the eligibility of the requested projects, the Court will
be briefed on the proposed activities, including how the County's $114,765 nnlncorpomted area
allocation will be utilized. Final decisions regarding projects that will be using FY2005 funding
have to be made and submitted to HUD no later than August 12. Once approved by HUD, these
projects can then begin operation as soon as October 1, 2005.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the proposed FY2005 CDBG objectives, allocations, and project review
process be approved.
Recommended by:
J. Allen Clemson, Administrator
CDBG cities
CDBG staff
Ryan Brown, Budget Officer
Ronica Watldm, Budget Analyst
Virgifnia Porter, Auditor
Don Holzwarth, Public Works Director