City Wants Input on Community Development Grants

The City of Wauwatosa wants your help in deciding how to spend some money – money that, in a sense, you already earned, paid in taxes and is now being offered back to you indirectly through your community.

The Community Development Block Grant program is an odd and interesting animal created in the laboratory of the federal government.

The United States collects income taxes from citizens and corporations across the country and then turns around and gives some of that money back to local governments in the form of CDBG's – grants intended to improve community services and quality of life.

The City of Wauwatosa wants to know how you would like to see that money spent, and is conducting a survey to find out. City officials say they hope for a lot of participation to guide them in allocating this year's funds.

Federal CDBG funds, and HOME funds for Milwaukee County, are primarily intended to benefit low- and moderate-income households. Wauwatosa's allocation of CDBG funds has fallen over a number of years, first because its number of low- and moderate-income households dropped to put it into a lower bracket – good news – and again, more recently, because of general federal belt-tightening.

But Wauwatosa does still get a share of CDBG funds, some of which must be spent directly to help lower-income citizens, some can be spent by the city itself to improve services to its citizens, and some may be spent to aid in creating jobs through economic development.

The City of Wauwatosa annually allocates CDBG funds for public facilities improvements, public services including senior services, economic development, housing rehabilitation and a number of other activities.

Milwaukee County receives HOME funds for housing assistance that can be allocated for activities in Wauwatosa. These funds are allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Some allocations of CDBG funds recently have created some controversy. There are mandated percentages for this and that type of initiative, so that in one case Wauwatosa's Hart Park Senior Center was deprived of funds by a reduction in overall federal allocations, while some businesses (from the economic development portion) were receiving new funding, and the city also was spending CDBG money on its own service upgrades in an overall affluent community.

But that's the way it works. Even if total CDBG funding goes down, there is still going to be some of what's left spent that may not appear at first blush to help those most in need.

As examples, while the Senior Center was hurting, businesses got off the ground by applying for and receiving shares of CDBG funds. The question, perhaps, is how much they needed those funds.

Rocket Baby Bakery might not have been born without its CDBG funds in 2011, when allocations also were approved for Le Reve, Alterra Coffee, Highlands Cafe and Cranky Al's (all being offered less than they asked for).

Some of those, including Cranky Al's, would not actually pursue or get the funding, putting the money back in the pot when the approved allocation just didn't meet their goals.

Rocket Baby, at any rate, was not only born but has thrived. Alterra opened Sunday and promises to be a magnet for the Hyde Park business district – although there was vocal opposition to giving CDBG funds to a business group that didn't seem all that needy.

Last year, $150,000 in CDBG funds was approved for BelAir Cantina, and again, some objected that the Mojofuco Restaurant Group behind it shouldn't have needed the money – but the restaurant group said it did.

Rocket Baby, Alterra and BelAir have, however, all opened successfully and delivered on their promises of job creation. Rocket Baby, a first-time and solo business, extended its hours in its first year of operation, extended its menu and hired more people than it promised. 

Alterra appointed a manager who lives in Wauwatosa, and its payroll and tax contribution floats other boats.

BelAir Cantina is just downright popular, and one of its owners also lives in Wauwatosa. It has created more than two dozen new jobs in Wauwatosa and may create more.

And none of those businesses, at least, demanded local tax-incremental financing to get started. CDBG funds, unlike TIF funds given to some developers, were already paid in taxes and never have to be paid back.

Still, there is a similarity, and a question for Wauwatosans: If TIF applicants must pass a "but for" test – if it were not for these funds, the project would not occur –  so CDBG applicants must show a benefit, whether it's to seniors or the poor or to create jobs for low-income workers but also profits for owners.

"But for" the spending of this money, this or that would not occur, whether it's new jobs of activities for the elderly.

You decide. The city wants to know where you would like what were previously your dollars to be spent, now that a few of them have arrived back in Wauwatosa.

Again, the city wants you to answer the Community Development Block Grant survey. 

It's your money. Spend it wisely.