Saratoga Sees 50 Percent Cut to CDBG Program

Saratoga is facing a 50 percent reduction in Community Development Block Grant funding this 2012-13 fiscal year, a cut that will affect the city's ability to assist agencies that help the vulnerable and needy.

Last year, the city received $44,000 in CDBG monies to benefit local health and human services agencies.

However, this year's amount has been slashed to about $22,000.

The Santa Clara County's Housing and Community Development Program (HCD) normally allocates anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000, which the Saratoga City Council then matches with an equal amount. But this year, said Saratoga Mayor Chuck Page, the HCD decided to instead give the funding to first-time homebuyers.

In previous years, the Council has had an application process for the funding, which up to six organizations or agencies have received. But this year, it divvied out the money to three of the main organizations that had received funding in the past: Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council, which provides services for local seniors, West Valley Community Services, which provides a variety of health related services to 6,000 local families and individuals, and Catholic Charities Ombudsman Program, which provides advocacy services in hospitals for seniors and the chronically ill.

The decision to approve the funding was listed on the Council's agenda as a consent item, which allows the five-member body to approve it in one vote. It was originally discussed at a Council meeting in April.

“We know these programs still want support and it's important to allocate the funds in order to keep them running,” said Page.

He was uncertain whether the HCD would provide the Council with funding for next year, or the impact the lessened funding would have.

The money comes from a discretionary fund, said Page. “We often overestimate our expenses and that way we have a little surplus,” he said.