May 9—WILKES-BARRE — Following the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal last week, Mayor George Brown at city council’s regular meeting Thursday said that possible federal spending cuts will affect services the city relies on.
Brown said there are proposed cuts to some of the grants the Wilkes-Barre Health Department receives, as well as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including the elimination of the Community Development Block Grant program.
According to Wilkes-Barre’s Office of Economic & Community Development, the goal of the block grant program is “to develop viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment and economic opportunities principally for persons of low and moderate income levels as well as public facilities improvements within eligible low/mod areas.”
Brown also mentioned the elimination of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which was announced in April.
The program was established in 2018 and was intended to help states secure funding for disaster relief.
While Congress will ultimately create its own budget resolution, Trump’s budget proposal serves as an outline of the administration’s policy priorities for the coming year.
Uncertainly surrounding the Trump Administration’s proposed spending cuts was brought up during public discussion by Wilkes-Barre resident Angel Mathis, who said she was “really anxious” about how the country is being “reshaped.”
“There’s a lot of programs we’re gonna lose,” she said. “And there’s a lot of people who are gonna be hurt, and there’s a lot of people who actually will die — and I’m not doing it out of hyperbole — but they will die because of the cuts and decisions that’s being made by Washington.”
She continued, “At the end of the day, our people still have to be housed, our people still have to be fed and they still have to be cared for.”
Brown told Mathis that she was “absolutely right” about there being possible cuts that will affect Wilkes-Barre, which is why he said he and other city officials met with Rep. Rob Bresnahan, as well as a representative of Sen. Dave McCormick last week.
“Both our congressman and our senator are aware of what [those programs] mean to the city of Wilkes-Barre,” Brown said. “We’re very open, very honest about that.”
He continued, “Believe me, we’re very concerned about it. The city provides so many services, and those services, if those funds are cut, will be reduced. We cannot afford to do that.”
According to previous reporting, Bresnahan recently announced that he introduced legislation to save the BRIC program from being shut down.
Agenda items approved
Council on Thursday approved an amendment to an ordinance that will raise fines for drivers who cut through parking lots to avoid waiting in traffic.
The ordinance, first drafted in 2008, punishes any driver convicted of cutting across private and public property not intended for thoroughfare access to avoid waiting at a traffic light or intersection.
The amendment will increase the current fine of $50 to a minimum fine of $250, with a maximum of $600.
The vote on Thursday was the first of two readings needed for the amendment to pass.
If it is approved at the final reading, it will go into effect 10 days later, according to the agenda.
Also at the meeting, Council approved the reappointment of Jay Delaney and Patricia Gazenski to the Housing Authority. Both terms will expire on Sept. 10, 2029.