The City of Centralia has received a $125,000 Strong Community Grant through the Illinois Housing Development Authority.
Community Development Director Gayla Harting says the grant is coming at a good time since the city cut its demolition budget for substandard homes in half for the coming year due to budget
shortfalls.
“It’s basically for cleanup of our community, hoping to increase the value of neighboring properties of these vacant structure building properties as well as get those properties back on the tax roll. Hopefully, with this grant, we might be able to purchase some of these properties, clean them up with city crews, and then put them up for sale and get them back on the tax rolls.”
Harting was commended for her work in obtaining the grant by Mayor Herb Williams and members of the city council during Monday’s meeting.
The Centralia City Council on Monday night once again waived the collection of all fees for demolition for 2021. The waiver first went into effect in 2012.
