Updated on June 18, 2017 at 8:19 AMPosted on June 18, 2017 at 8:15 AM
BY CRISTINA ROJAS
For NJ.com
TRENTON — Trenton will lose out on $3.3 million in federal block grant funding over a three-year span — the result of years of mismanagement and sloppy recordkeeping under the city’s previous two administrations.
The funding cut approved earlier this month represents the city’s only recourse to repay Community Development Block Grant money that officials say was improperly used between 2007 and 2013.
A series of audits by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development found that $3,322,313 in costs for the block grant program were unsupported, unallowable or unreasonable and required repayment. But because the city can’t afford to reimburse HUD with non-federal funds, the amount it owes will be deducted from future block grants, beginning with the 2016 funds that have not yet been released.