CLEARFIELD — The city reorganized federal grant funds to use leftover money from other projects for work on 100 North.
City Manager Adam Lenhard explained that this shuffling of money was done recently by the city council as it approved its consolidated annual performance evaluation report. This report is a requirement for receiving federal community development block grant funds, which are provided to help low- to moderate-income residents.
In 2010, the city received $250,819 in CDBG money. It used these funds for a variety of items, including work on Maple Street, grant administration costs, and to give money to groups such as Safe Harbor, Davis Community Learning Center, Family Connection Center and the Clearfield Youth Resource Center.
The city planned to spend almost $178,000 for work on Maple Street, but the project came in at $111,672.
“This is an accounting of how we spent the money,” Lenhard said. “We need to report on the expenditure of funds every year.”
Not only does it comply with the regulations, he said, it is also helpful for residents to see what is being done. Residents always have the chance to review the report and voice opinions, including at a public hearing, prior to final council approval.
This report was recently presented and showed how the funds were spent for the last year. In addition to approving the report, the city reprogrammed leftover funds from 2008 to 2011.
The remaining funds included roughly $66,000 left over from the Maple Street infrastructure project. The other amounts were smaller, including $1,386 from the $14,392 budgeted in 2009 to 2010 for the Clearfield Youth Resource Center.
Lenhard explained there is a defined process detailing what must be done for the funds to be used elsewhere.
This consists of reprogramming the funds, having a public hearing and getting city council approval, which was recently done.
In its 2011 to 2012 action plan, the city had already designated $137,365 toward the 100 North Street infrastructure project. The left-over funds of $81,669 will be added to the already allotted funds, making the new total of $219,034 for the infrastructure project.
“We are able to use the last several years of realized savings to help with another project,” Lenhard said.
He said the city will benefit from the utility and road work planned for that area. However, he added, the funds likely will not cover the complete cost of the work. The city will use other budgeted money to make up the difference.
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