City of Williamsport budgeted to repay $100,000 to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The City of Williamsport must repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development almost $100,000, which was included in the 2025 budget.
The formal resolution to return about $99,896 to HUD was presented by Jernae Drummond, city Department of Economic and Community Development assistant director, and was discussed by City Council’s finance committee headed up and attended by only Councilman Randy Allison.
He noted how the repayment to HUD was included in the 2025 budget and the resolution was anticipated and not a surprise. The committee does not take a vote or decide, but rather reviews agenda items that will be voted on by council.
To add perspective, Councilwoman Liz Miele, chair of the committee, who was not at the meeting Tuesday, said previously why HUD had to be repaid nearly $100,000.
She said over the years the city has done home rehabilitation of properties using Home funding, a program administered by the federal government agency. Several of those projects have come out to be more or less unworkable when the city was audited. In this part of the HUD review, the agency has recalled some of the funding that was spent on those projects, Miele said.
Previously, the city was audited by HUD more than 30 years ago. After that audit, the city repaid $2 million-$3 million in Community Development Block Grant funds.