Title
Resolution supplementing the Rules of Council, Rule XVII by adding language.
Body
Whereas, the City of Pittsburgh is a Formula B Community Development Block Grant ("CDBG") Entitlement Area: and,
Whereas, the primary objectives of HUD's CDBG program are 1. Benefit to Low/Moderate Income Person; 2. Elimination of Slum and Blight; 3. Resolution of an urgent need (Alleviation of an existing condition which poses a serious and immediate threat to the health and welfare of the community, which are of recent origin, or which recently became urgent); and,
Whereas, over the past decade, the City has looked for ways to balance budgets while trying to maintain service levels. In some cases, where the City's General Fund services have been reduced, CDBG funds have been used to help maintain service levels. This
practice, referred to as "Supplanting" is a concern to HUD; and,
Whereas, HUD discourages the practice of using CDBG dollars to supplant City obligated expenses; and,
Whereas, City's practice of using CDBG funds to entirely pay for street paying in CDBG eligible communities without providing an enhance benefit to those communities is inequitable and inappropriate; and,
Therefore be it resolved that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The Rules of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh are hereby amended as follows:
Rules of Council, Rule XVIII. 2. Criteria for Allocating Grants
(f) The minimum City Council grant award will be five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00).
(g) CDBG funds must be used within 3 years or will be automatically reprogrammed back to the Council District Office it originated from.
(h) Distribution of Community Development Block Grant ("CDBG") funds by Council members
1. Upon the delivery of the Decennial Census data to the City of Pittsburgh by the Census Bureau, the Director of City Planning shall do the following:
2. Determine, in accordance with federal laws and regulations, those Census Tracts which are eligible for the use of Community Development Block Grant funds;
3. Determine, based on Census Tract boundaries, which census blocks reside within the Tract boundaries;
4. Certify a list of CDBG-eligible census blocks in the City of Pittsburgh;
5. Certify a list of Census blocks for each Council District, delineating those census blocks which are CDBG eligible;
6. Transmit this information to City Council and to the City Clerk
7. The City Clerk and the Director of the City Council Budget Office shall do the following:
8. Determine the total amount of CDBG funds that are to be divided among the members of City Council;
9. Divide the amount established in (b)(1) by the total number of census blocks certified by the Director of City Planning in (a)(3). This shall be the "per-census block allocation.";
10. Multiply the per-census block allocation by the total number of eligible census blocks for each Council District;
11. Provide a report to Council detailing this information.
(i) The Clerk's report shall be used, annually, as Council's allocation formula.