KINGSTON – The Kingston Common Council came to a decision Tuesday evening regarding the approval of the 2017 Action Plan for the Community Development Block Grant.
Some city representatives, and former recipients of the grant, are concerned about the yearly decline in federal funds.
Alderwoman Nina Dawson said it was a tough decision to make and the current action plan will leave a number of entities at risk of not being approved for grant funding.
“Last year we had more money,” said Dawson. “The previous year before that, we had even more money. So, each year, as they come down, they’re actually becoming less and less.”
She added that as more entities become familiar with the approval requirements for the grant, the city is not being able to match with increased funding.
“There’s so many good programs here like Ulster Literacy, Legal Aid Services, PUG, Catholic Charities; there’s so many different great applicants, but there’s not enough to give everybody a little something,” Dawson said.
Despite entities like Legal Aid Services, which came out Tuesday to show the council what they said was the good they had accomplished with previous CDBG grant funding, some of them may be cut out for 2017.
