For the first time, the City of Bradford included the Office of Economic and Community Development in the budget discussion and the overall totals outlined Tuesday.

City Administrator Chris Lucco explained that the inclusion comes following a recommendation from the City’s Strategic Management Program consultant and the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development local advisor, that notes while the department is self-supporting and does not utilize general fund dollars, ultimately money expended is city funding.

Office of Economic and Community Development Director Shane Oschman said the budget for the OECD can be difficult to comprehend when presented in the format of a single fiscal year.

Oschman stated that the budget includes grant expenses and incomes, some of which are intended for use over a period that extends beyond a single fiscal year.

“I know, from time to time, there can be questions about why we are renting multi-tenant centers and rental homes,” Oschman said. “But we try to be incredibly competitive to any other landlord in the area, and we ask people to recognize that those funds are coming in to allow us to maintain city properties and allow us the flexibility to keep tax dollars out of the operations that we do.”

Oschman explained that “a very small portion of any portion of the grants we get can be used toward administrative cost. There’s some flexibility on CDBG but it’s limited. Others have a zero line item for administration, so that money has to come from somewhere.

“We are able to self-sustain those expenses by the properties that we manage, as well as some grants.”

Lucco noted that Oschman and his staff “spent countless hours working on the grant for the ambulance. There’s no money coming back to that staff for that. The time they are spending on that could be spent on other stuff, so it’s definitely helpful to the city as well.”

Administrative expenses for 2020 were $770,620, with an anticipated cost of $828,401 in 2021 and a projected cost of $700,078 in 2022.

The total expenses for 2020 for the OECD were $3,518,692.

The revenue sources for 2020 were as follows:

— Grant money $2,409,150

— NPP Administration $25,000

— Other organizations (DBRC, BEDC, McKean County) $10,000

— Fees for services/other income $25,000

— Revolving loans $59,645

— Community/Economic Development Funds $214,027

— Rental/commercial operations $349,878

— MTC operations $425,992

Anticipated expenses for 2021 are $2,968,510 and submitted for 2022 are $2,083,191, which reflects a 40% decrease from the expenses in 2020 to the 2022 submitted budget.

The anticipated revenue for 2021 includes $1,665,000 in grant money, $25,000 in NPP administration, $437,346 in rental/commercial properties, $532,492 in MTC operations, $214,027 in Community/Economic Development funds, $59,645 in revolving loans, $25,000 in fees for services/other income and $10,000 from other organizations for a total of $2,968,510.

Oschman pointed out a footnote to his budget, which indicated potential funds from the city.

“I’m hoping the City Council will support a $10,000 investment in the Main Street Manager position. That position does exist to help benefit your Main Street and that is something the council had done in the past,” Oschman said. “Certain budget constraints made that stop for a while, and we’re hoping you’ll be reconsidering that.”

Oschman explained the OECD would continue to cover the remainder of the salary for that position.

“Looking over the history of OECD, long ago when city fathers envisioned this, I think that what they did was something that has allowed it to live on into the future. As you had said, other than the Main Street Manager, you are basically self-funded,” City Councilman Fred Proper said. “Everything that comes in is used for development. There is no city tax money in this budget, so to speak. It is all money gathered by hard work and put back into the community. We are one of the few communities in Pennsylvania that has an OECD that is self-sufficient.”

Mayor James McDonald added, “I would just posit that anyone with negative feedback on that sort of thing doesn’t understand what’s happening, because it’s tremendous what you guys use your time to do and like anybody else, you only get a certain number of hours in a day. So the fact that you do spend your time doing things like that means everything.”