By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – City officials in St. Louis are speaking out against proposed cuts to federal community development block grants.
They are the flagship program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But President Bush wants to combine CDBGs with 17 other programs and trim the overall budget by a third.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says that could lead to their elimination.
"These are programs that really help us deal with the core issues in cities," Slay said. "And that's dealing with economically depressed areas, and areas that have had a lot of disinvestment and benign neglect for many years."
Slay says the city is spending $27 million in block grant money this fiscal year. That money is often leveraged with private investment in many projects.
There is also about $6 million worth of block grant spending planned for St. Louis County this year.