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January 6, 2009

County seeks $500,000 to fix or buy homes

Jamie Jones

As the home foreclosure crisis continues, help may be on the way.

The Dalton-Whitfield Community Development Corp. is applying for a $1.23 million federal neighborhood stabilization program grant to help low, moderate and middle income residents in five counties fix or buy homes.

The development corporation is the regional applicant for Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens and Whitfield counties. Whitfield County is expected to receive about $500,000, executive director Gaile Jennings said. Murray County could get between $100,000 and $150,000.

The money can be used to buy vacant and foreclosed properties, demolish blighted properties, repair homes and provide lease-purchase homes to qualified families who have already lost a home to foreclosure. There were 815 home foreclosures in 2007 and 2008 in Whitfield County.

Jennings said 25 percent of the money must go to families earning less than 50 percent of the area median income. For a family of three, that would be $23,800 or less per year. In Whitfield County, some 2,000 households would qualify. The grant application must be submitted by Jan. 15 and all money must be spent within 18 months.

“I’ve never seen the federal government work so fast,” Jennings said.

The development corporation had the first of two public hearings on the grant Monday during the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners meeting. The second public hearing will be Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. in the lower atrium of the Whitfield County Courthouse.

In other business:

• The cost of being arrested just got more expensive in Whitfield County.

Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a $10,000 budget amendment for the sheriff’s office to cover a $20 fee being charged by the state to record all fingerprints digitally. The $10,000 is expected to be canceled out by adding a $20 fee to the booking process.

Maj. John Gibson told commissioners they should expect to hear complaints from the public.

• Commissioner Harold Brooker was elected board vice chairman by a 2-0 vote. Brooker did not vote, commissioner Mike Cowan did not attend the meeting and chairman Mike Babb only votes to break ties. Brooker returned to the board after serving 12 total years in the early 1970s, the late 1980s and early 1990s. Cowan was the previous vice chairman.

• Commissioners will hold their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. rather than Monday. They will be in Atlanta on Monday for a reception with state legislators sponsored by the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce.

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