Elgin board closer to deciding who gets money

Elgin leaders Wednesday whittled down their annual list of organizations hoping to grab a piece of a $848,000 federal funding pie, with St. Edward Catholic School, the Housing Authority of Elgin, the Renz Addiction Center, the Well Child Center, the Association for Individual Development, Buena Vista Tower and Habitat for Humanity coming out as losers.

The city likely will award $50,000 to the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which is erecting a new warehouse in Geneva; $30,000 to the Ecker Center to rebuild a crumbing retaining wall; $50,000 to PADS of Elgin; $55,400 to the YWCA to repair its roof; $36,850 to the Community Crisis Center for building upgrades; and $29,750 to the Neighborhood Housing Services of Fox Valley for mortgage counseling to avoid foreclosures.

The overwhelming majority - $595,162 - will be used to fund and administer a long-standing city grant program for low-income homeowners to make repairs.

Overall, there were $1.3 million in requests and city leaders had the unenviable task of ruling out several requests for funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The six groups that were denied grant money requested help for a variety of requests, from renovating science labs and fixing sprinkler systems to upgraded security equipment and roof repairs.

"Our overriding philosophy that was had was we wanted to solve immediate needs of the people of Elgin," said Councilman David Kaptain, who along with Councilman Robert Gilliam helped recommend projects. "We thought this was a way to help the people who need it most."

Matt Fitzgibbons, the city's planning manager, said the public comment period runs from this Friday through March 15.

A final public hearing is scheduled for the 7 p.m. March 31 before the city council, which likely will take a vote that same night.

Fitzgibbons said funding usually arrives around August or September.