Mineola to Hold Hearing for 2013 Block Grant Funds

The Mineola Village Board held one of their briefest meetings in recent memory Wednesday night at the village hall, staying in public for less than five minutes.

Next week’s meeting would have promised to be even shorter considering that the trustees would only be certifying the March 19 election, but a special hearing will also be held on the village’s request for funds for the community development block grant.

“It’s a pilot program that we’ve gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars of each year for residential rehabilitation as well as some projects within the village,” Mayor Scott Strauss said.

Every year the village is required to hold an annual hearing discuss how they would use Community Development Block Grant funds for the next calendar year. The village must apply for the amount each year and does not necessarily receive the amount for which they apply.

In 2012 the village total in block grant funding: $125,000 for residential rehabilitation throughout the village, $75,000 for code enforcement to enforce illegal housing, $300,000 for downtown parking improvements and $24,000 to improve handicapped accessibility throughout the village

In 2011 the village applied for $175,000 for residential rehabilitation throughout the village, $75,000 for code enforcement to enforce illegal housing, $280,000 for downtown parking improvements and $25,000 to improve handicapped accessibility throughout the village.

The county would work with Mineola’s Community Development Block Grant Coordinator Bob Hinck to see what moneys would be distributed.

Described as Federal passthroughs, the moneys are federal funds which are then distributed through the county government to the local municipalities. The Federal funds are distributed to the Department of Housing and Governmental Affairs of Nassau County and are administered to municipalities on a need basis.

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