Clark County could lose $10M in anticipated funding under proposed federal budget

The Clark County Commission will move forward with $25 million in public projects despite uncertainty if the federal government will continue to provide reimbursement for the work.

At risk is the approximate $5 million in Community Development Block Grant funds the county receives annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The federal budget proposal that President Donald Trump released last week calls for the elimination of the $3 billion program starting July 1, 2018.

The county mainly uses the money as reimbursement for public projects that serve low-income communities, like improvements to parks and recreation centers. Another $2.3 million is being used to build housing for male delinquents who are in the Spring Mountain Youth Camp’s re-entry program.

County Manager Yolanda King told commissioners Tuesday that the county will receive adequate funding to pay for the design portion of its projects before the new federal budget takes effect.

“The dollars that would be in question would be if we had the dollars available to complete the construction part of this,” she said.

Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said if the funding is cut, the county might not be able to afford to complete the projects without tightening its belt elsewhere.

“We don’t have the money to fund this and the other stuff we want to fund, so we’re going to have to do our own prioritizing,” he said.

After deliberation, the commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with the projects.

“Just because the governor, president, whatever asks for something within their budget or not, doesn’t mean they’re going to get that passed,” Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said. “So I think we still have to do our due diligence for our constituents and move it forward. If their funding does actually get cut, then we have time to step back and find additional money.”

While a majority of Community Development Block Grant recipients across the country operate on a year-to-year basis, Clark County has an agreement with HUD to budget its allotment of funds on a five-year basis, said Mike Pawlak, the county’s director of the Department of Social Service. The five-year plan ends in 2019.

If the funding is cut, the county will receive $10 million less than it has planned to spend.

Eliminating the Community Development Block Grant program would also affect cities inside the county.

County staff report the county and its municipalities are authorized to receive more than $14.6 million in such funds in fiscal year 2017.

Commissioners plan to discuss the potential impacts of the proposed cuts at their April 4 meeting.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.