Town joins Frederick County grant program

(9/15) The Town Council voted to join Frederick County’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, guaranteeing funding for fiscal years 2025, 2026 and 2027. With the vote, Woodsboro joins Walkersville, Emmitsburg, and Thurmont in the program. New Market, Myersville and Mt. Airy declined to join.

The CDBG Program is a federally funded program managed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designed to assist county and municipal governments with activities that are directed toward the enhancement of neighborhoods, housing opportunities, economic development, and improvement of public facilities and services. HUD allocates funding based on four factors: population, people in poverty, the number of overcrowded units (including rentals), and number of homeowners.

Devin Peart, Frederick County’s local government relations associate, expects Woodsboro to be eligible for up to $30,000 in yearly grants for their annual base allocation from Frederick County’s expected grant total of $700,000, which will then be divided amongst its municipalities. Frederick County will determine allocations based on criteria similar to HUD’s. Unlike previous years, the County will also be distributing the unincorporated allocation amongst the participating municipalities in order to reach their infrastructure and housing goals.

"The big advantage that we see in this process is that your municipality will not have the administrative burden of applying with the state program, needing only to submit project summaries to the County for compliance purposes and working with the County for our reporting needs to HUD," Peart said.

"Additionally, this funding stream is guaranteed annually, and it will make planning and budgeting easier for your municipality."

The one downside of joining the County’s CDBG program is that Woodsboro will be "locked" into the program for three years and during that time, not allowed to independently apply to the state for a CDBG grant. However, Brown said that the Town could still apply for other grants that are not CDBG grants, such as Project Open Space grants.

Town staff told the Council that was "no big deal’ as the Town had never applied for CDBG because they felt the Town didn’t meet some of the minimum criteria, "so there is no downside to us joining the program." Even more importantly they said, "the County is doing all the grant writing, not us, all we have to submit is a description of the project we want to fund and the amount of money we need. It’s a win-win for Woodsboro."

Burgess Barnes asked about the process for any unused funds within each municipality. Peart confirmed that without an available project, the money would be moved to a municipality that could use it. "You would voluntarily relinquish those funds if you didn't have a project," he said. However, the funds could be rolled over, meaning if another municipality was not ready to begin a project, the funding could be passed to Woodsboro and then roles could reverse the following year. So, while Woodsboro would be guaranteed $30,000 in grants annually, if other Towns don’t apply, the amount of money available to Woodsboro could increase above that amount.

Barnes pressed Peart on how the money could be used. "Does it have to be used on low-income housings related projects or can we, for example, use it to fund repairs on the water and sewer plant or on extending the paved paths in the park?" Barnes asked. Peart said that the grant money can be used for all infrastructure improvements, including water and sewer upgrades "as that will help everyone, including disadvantaged residents."

Commissioner Jessie Case voiced support for the effort. "If by joining the County effort we increase the ability of the County to get more grants, that will help the County, and anything we do to help the County helps us," she stated, echoing the town staff position that joining the program was a "win-win for everyone."