CDBG, HOME, and Surtax/SHIP
Don't Use These Programs to Fill Miami-Dade County Budget Gaps
CDBG, HOME, and Surtax/SHIP have been used more and more as a resource to narrow the gaps in individual County departmental budgets. CDBG and HOME funds are skimmed off the top by the
County's Budget Department and then apportioned to the
various County departments that had submitted requests. These allocations do not
have to go through the RFP process like most other funding proposal. CDBG and HOME
end up being used to pay for what appears to be ordinary governmental expenditures.The Coalition supports a change in the way Miami Dade County budgets CDBG, HOME, and Surtax/SHIP funds.
Recommendations:
* Take CDBG and HOME out of County's general budget process. County agencies wishing to expend CDBG funds should be required to participate in the normal RFP process along with nonprofits and others.
* Implement an effective scoring system of all applications submitted in response to the RFP.
* The scoring system should give extra weight to those projects that best leverage private sectors funding.