Mayor Mike Absher asked the City Council to consider the unintended consequences of the residential grant program. | City of Marion
Mayor Mike Absher asked the City Council to consider the unintended consequences of the residential grant program. | City of Marion
The Marion City Council went on record in opposition to commercial rental companies participating in the city’s residential grant improvement program that offers financial assistance to aid homeowners in renovating and improving their single-family homes in the city.
“I want us to talk through this and figure out what the first thing to do for everybody is because this is kind of an unintended situation,” Mayor Mike Absher said in a YouTube video of the May 8 City Council meeting.
The city announced it would offer 75% of project cost using TIF funds, maxing out at a $5,000 contribution per house, according to the city’s application form for the program. The contributions were to be for structural and infrastructure-type improvements, including new installations or repairs to siding, roofs, windows, porches, and walkways, or adding ADA access, demolition of dilapidated sheds or garages, and dead tree removal.
Chief of mayoral staff Cody Moake told the council that the city had been receiving grant applications for this program from rental companies asking for aid, according to the YouTube video. The program had been written so that tenants or landlords would be able to have access to funds as well. But they had not considered the extent to which management companies would be interested.
“These are single-family homes within this neighborhood that they’re attempting to get these grant dollars on,” Moake said in the video. “I’m really torn on what to do here. These are all properties that need improvement. And I’m not going to deny that fact at all.”
He told the council none of the projects were for multifamily buildings, but that across the three management companies who had applied, their requests totaled $50,000, according to the video.
Moake asked for council advice on how to use the $200,000 they had set aside for the program, which accepts applications from May 1-31. It was intended for homeowners, and the management companies could be considered as a commercial enterprise, he said, according to the video.
Commissioner John Barwick thought the money “should be for homeowners, not for a business or a company that's in business to make money,” according to the YouTube video. The council discussed funding another program for commercial projects in the future, as well as a separate fund for unoccupied homes. And it approved some grants for residents under the TIF improvement program.
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