Blair County commissioners approve routine payroll, contracts and allocate CDBG funds to housing rehab

The Blair County Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved routine payroll and a slate of contracts and resolutions, and voted to allocate the county's federal fiscal year 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation to its housing rehabilitation program.

The commissioners approved ratification of warrants and the payroll for the Sept. 5 paycheck in the amount of $957,834.34, several budget transfers including a $30,000 transfer to cover autopsy services, and multiple purchase agreements and renewals for county programs and services.

County staff recommended allocating the county's CDBG entitlement for 2025 to the county's housing rehabilitation program after the public-notice and public-hearing process produced no proposed projects from the 17 non-entitlement municipalities. The county's total 2025 CDBG allocation for the non-entitlement municipalities was stated as $247,152; staff said 18% ($44,004.85) would be set aside for administration, leaving roughly $202,667 available for projects and recommending that amount be applied to housing rehabilitation.

Staff described the housing-rehab program as means-tested and in strong demand: county staff said 55 households are currently on the wait list, the per-unit maximum is $75,000 (though staff said they sometimes blend other funding sources), and current wait times are about five to six years with some applicants from 2019 still pending. Staff also said the county held a public hearing on July 15 at the…