Mineola Village to Hold Hearing for Block Grant Funds

The Village of Mineola will be asking for over half a million dollars in community development block grants this year from Nassau County.

Each year villages ask for grants from Nassau County to pay for various projects. “Mineola gets a certain amount of funds each year for community development,” Mayor Lawrence Werther said. “They go for things like code enforcement (and) parking improvement.”

The mayor singled out money for residential rehabilitation, designated for seniors with certain income caps. These funds can be used to improve a residence such as a leaky roof, new windows or to fix a boiler. Seniors who wish to see if they qualify for the funds should contact .

“It’s not to remodel a home, it’s to keep you living in a home,” Village Clerk Joe Scalero said at Wednesday night's village Board meeting.

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 board approved the funding for the previous year’s funding in 2010, the 36th year Mineola has received such funding on Wednesday night. The hearing for the 37th year fund will be held on Feb. 16. The village must apply for the amount each year and does not necessarily receive the amount for which they apply.

“However, we will never get more than we apply for,” Werther said, “so the moneys that we apply for are a little on the generous side.”

This year the village is applying 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” by Scalero, 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.