Published Thursday, May 16, 2002
MERCER COUNTY
Authority's grade falls just a bit shortBy Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has given Mercer County Housing Authority a score of 89 on its annual report.
While Executive Director L. DeWitt Boosel called the score "excellent," it is just shy of "high performer" status, which means the federal government will more closely regulate the authority's operations.
Last year the authority scored 88.6 out of a possible 100 points, and was last named a high performer in 1998-99 with a score of 94, which was granted under a different assessment program.
"Being that close and not making it is sometimes frustrating," Boosel said of the cutoff point for high performer status.
The Public Housing Assessment System has four major categories. The authority's score for 2000-2001 was broken down this way, with 1999-2000 scores in parentheses:
- Finances, 27 out of 30 (30).
- Management, 26 out of 30 (25.7).
- Resident satisfaction, which is based on a survey, 9 out of 10 (5.7).
The longer turnaround time is due to reasons such as the modernization of units, market conditions, such as transportation and proximity to services, and the applicant screening process, Boosel said.
Boosel said turnaround time was the significant factor in the loss of points on the management score, and the authority believes that is the area where it can most greatly improve. Authority employees are working very hard to make it happen, he said.
"I feel confident we're going to achieve high performer status in the next year," Boosel said.
The authority lost points last year for economic self-sufficiency programs. While the authority believed it has done a good job with them, HUD gave it a score of 0 out of 10.
Boosel said part of the problem could have been with the PHAS computer system; all information is entered over the Internet.
This year, the authority received nine points out of 10.