BUFFALO, N.Y. — Mayor Byron Brown's office has been reallocating money in the budget for weeks. The main reason being late payments from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Community Development Block Grant Program is a major source of funding for Buffalo. The money is key to helping with demolition and infrastructure projects. The grants also assist non-profit agencies in the city.
Grant payments were scheduled to begin on the first of October. Various agencies in Buffalo have still not received those funds. One of the organizations affected is the Delavan-Grider Community Center.
The center has been a recipient of Community Development Block Grants for the past 17 years. Candice Moppins is executive director of the community center and says the grant money is an important factor in her annual budget.
"If I didn't have that funding I probably wouldn't have been able to get some of the other funding that I have gotten," Moppins told 2 On Your Side.
Moppins says she currently does not worry about the delay in funding, but she is carefully watching the center's funds until the payments come from HUD. Her center will receive part of an expected $13 million to help with programming for the fiscal year.
"We try to budget the money very well to make sure we don't end up at a deficit."
The Delavan Grinder Community Center is not the only organization in the city that receives funding from these federal grants. The Community Development Block Grants also assist in the upkeep of Buffalo's roads and sidewalks. These projects can't begin until payments from HUD are made.
Senators Kristen Gillibrand and Charles Schumer have been vocal about the grants how vital they are to helping Buffalo and other areas in New York.