Dunkirk’s Community Development Block Grant funding from the federal government is in peril.

Nicole Clift, CDBG administrator for the city, said Dunkirk failed a “timeliness test” for the program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The city will have to file a new work plan in order to access its CDBG funding.

The “timeliness test” is a calculation that HUD does 60 days before the end of each program year for its CDBG grantees. It adds program income which a grantee has on hand with the funds remaining in its CDBG line of credit, and divides by the amount of the annual grant award, to come up with a ratio. If the ratio is 1.5 or greater, the grantee has failed the test.

“Right now, CDBG for 2024 should have started Sept. 1,” Clift said. “They’re holding our funds until we have what they call a trial. … It’s basically a hearing in a phone call.

She added of HUD, “They can’t tell me a definitive time when that phone call will happen.”

Dunkirk can’t get any CDBG funding until the new work plan is in, and Clift said it’s due Nov. 17.

She stated that she thought it wasn’t fair for HUD to say Dunkirk is not spending its funds in a timely fashion, then set the city up to fail in the future “to make us catch up to be timely.” Because of the timeliness test failure, “Now we’re in this endless loop, and I’ll try my best to get us out.”

Clift continued the city already has to pay back about $17,000. She said she would “meticulously” go through records and try to lower that number.

The city will now have to spend more on administrative and general services in its CDBG program to deal with all the extra bureaucratic demands put up by the test failure, Clift added. That could contribute to future test failures, she said.

The city’s CDBG administrator since early 2023, Clift said she was “doing my best to clean things up” from previous administrators. “We had a lot of turnover in the city in that particular position,” she said.

The CDBG is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. Programs assisted by the CDBG program for 2024, according to the city of Dunkirk website, include: Boys & Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County After School Program, $15,000; CHRIC First Time Home Buyer Closing Cost Assistance, $20,000; CHRIC: Roof Repair Assistance, $40,000; Central Hall Stairway Entrance Upgrade to Code, $10,000; City of Dunkirk Administration $88,257.60; City of Dunkirk Boardwalk Safety/ADA Repairs — over two years — $9,030.40; City of Dunkirk Code Enforcement Salary, $60,000; City of Dunkirk demolitions, $85,000; City of Dunkirk Sidewalk Repair Program for year two, $85,700; Dunkirk Historical Museum Building Repairs, $9,000; Kids At Promise: Youth Boxing & Mentorship Program $3,300; Rural Ministries Code Blue Building Upgrades, $16,000.