A lack of information might hamper Warren City Council as it tries to determine whether the City Redevelopment Authority is in need of an allocation from the city.
Currently, the RDA receives $4,000 from the city on an annual basis but a motion laid on the table during Monday night's budget session proposed to eliminate that funding.
As council tries to overcome a $1 million deficit, that $4,000 came under fire.
"During the start up period in 2005, the premise was that they would be self-sustaining within a short period of time," Councilman John Lewis said, intoning that five years is not a short period of time.
"I don't know what their entire budget is," Councilman Chris Park noted. "It's not our responsibility to see whether they need money."
But Councilman Dr. Howard Ferguson explained that "we never required them to report to us so we have no idea what is going on.'
"They have autonomy as an authority," Lewis added.
"I would like to see it (funding) taken out," council Vice-president Maurice Cashman noted. "It will just come out of fund balance," Councilman Sam Harvey noted.
City Manager Nancy Freenock expressed concern that the RDA does not have a meeting scheduled in the next week to potentially approve a formal request to council for funding.
"But we can look" at their finances, Cashman said.
"They have two accounts," City Planner David Hildebrand explained. "They do have two sources of funding that they are using right now. They're not at zero."
The RDA is "also holding properties that haven't been sold yet," Lewis noted.
A motion to pull the funding was approved unanimously.
After the vote, city Solicitor Andrea Stapleford expressed a concern. "Without an RDA meeting, do they (council) have the ability to request or demand that they turn over financial information."
"We're not asking everyone else," Coucilmember Chris Park said.
Ferguson reminded council of the value of the RDA, noting that the "only way blighted properties can be dealt with in Pennsylvania is with an RDA. They may not need the money."