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r BOOK hJ FAGE- Y An economic development CDBG project may be approved to receive funds either as a grant or as a loan. If the proposed activities involve infrastructure improvements in the public right-of-way, then the funds will be awarded as a grant to the county. If the proposed activities involve improvements on private property, then the funds will be awarded as a low-interest loan to the business. If CDBG funds are awarded in the form of a loan, the following activities may be undertaken with those funds: • Acquisition of real property; • Acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of commercial and industrial buildings and structures; • Purchase of capitalized machinery and equipment with a useful life of at least five years; • Energy conservation improvements designed to encourage the efficient use of energy resources; • Public, commercial, or industrial real property or infrastructure improvements; • Activities to remove barriers which restrict access for the elderly or handicapped to publicly owned and privately owned buildings, facilities, and improvements; and • Activities designed to provide job training and placement and/or other employment support services on behalf of the participating party. While neighborhoods within Indian River County would benefit from a neighborhood revitalization CDBG project, the current scoring system used by DCA creates a disadvantage for communities such as Indian River County with high per capita and household incomes. As previously indicated, the county's community -wide needs score greatly reduces the funding chances for any neighborhood revitalization application submitted by the county. When the 2000 census data are released, DCA will recalculate the community -wide needs scores for all local jurisdictions eligible for the Small Cities CDBG program. This recalculation will not significantly alter the county's score since the county's characteristics have not changed significantly since 1990; however, DCA will eliminate the 40 point reduction currently being applied to the county's score for previous funds awarded through the CDBG program. Indian River County has not previously applied for housing CDBG funds since the county already participates in the State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP)Program. The SHIP program is a county sponsored program that provides grants or loans to very low and low income persons to assist them in obtaining a home or rehabilitating their existing home. Indian River County has not submitted a commercial revitalization application in the past because commercial revitalization projects usually focus on downtown areas. Most applications submitted in this category are submitted by cities and towns. In fact, all of the commercial revitalization applications submitted to DCA in the last fiscal year were submitted by cities and/or towns. According to the state's CDBG program rules, up to 8% of CDBG funds awarded to a project can be utilized to cover the cost of application preparation and project administration. These functions may be done by a consultant. By using a consultant to prepare an application and administer the project, the county would get the benefit of the consultant's expertise with the program. Most consultants will prepare the application at no charge to the county, if the consultant is assured of MAY 099 2000