One of the questions that has dogged members of the Shenango Valley Intergovernmental Study Committee for years is how much Community Development Block Grant money a consolidated city could expect to receive.

The issue is important because communities use the money for street repairs, housing rehabilitation, economic development projects, code enforcement, public services and other efforts.

The committee is made up of elected officials and citizen representatives from Farrell, Sharon, Hermitage, Sharpsville and Wheatland, who are studying whether to merge or consolidate.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had refused to provide a CDBG estimate but, at the behest of local congressmen, changed its mind, said Denny Puko, chairman of the subcommittee on community and economic development.

Sharon receives an annual CDBG entitlement directly from HUD, while Hermitage, Farrell and Sharpsville get yearly entitlements through the state.

Wheatland is not entitled to an annual allocation, but has successfully applied for a chunk of Mercer County's CDBG entitlement.

Using 2002 figures and Wheatland's relative success in securing CDBGs, the subcommittee determined that the Shenango Valley receives more than $1.8 million in CDBGs annually.

Puko said he's 99.9 percent sure a consolidated municipality would replace Sharon as Mercer County's HUD-entitlement municipality.

HUD uses two formulas to determine the amount of CDBGs. One figures population, poverty and overcrowded housing and the other considers poverty, pre-1940 housing units and growth lag. HUD makes its award based on which figure is higher, Puko said.

Using 2002 figures, HUD said a consolidated city would receive $1,677,000, which would appear to be a funding cut for the valley.

The figure is surprising when you compare it to the CDBGs received by Williamsport, York and Wilkes-Barre, all cities that have fewer people than the consolidated city would have -- $1,686,000 to $2.4 million -- but is on a par with Warren, Ohio.

While that's bad news for consolidation proponents, there could be other financial benefits to creating a new city, Puko said.

The new city probably would receive an annual entitlement from the federal government under its HOME program, which provides money for affordable-housing improvements, such as rehabilitation and new-home construction.

Shenango Valley municipalities have received competitive HOME grants from the state from time to time over the years.

Looking at 2001 figures, Altoona, Wilkes-Barre and York received between $441,000 and $574,000 in HOME entitlements.

The new city also might be entitled to Emergency Shelter Grant funding from the federal government, which the Shenango Valley communities have received on a competitive basis occasionally from the state.

In 2001, Altoona received $90,000 and Wilkes-Barre got $84,000.

If both of those entitlements come through, the amounts would outweigh the loss in CDBG funds, Puko said.

William Tesh, a Hermitage resident, told committee members not to depend on state and federal funding. He said Northern Cambria borough in Cambria County has not received all the money it was promised.

He also claimed that St. Marys in Elk County has seen a doubling of taxes, the dissolution of a volunteer fire department and an increase in fire insurance since its creation in 1991.

Stephen Theiss, a Sharon resident, asked the committee to project the demographic outlook of the valley with and without consolidation.

Committee consultant Alan R. Kugler said the committee plans to do that to some extent, but not necessarily as in-depth as Theiss is asking for.

Carl Eirich, a Sharon citizen representative on the committee, said the Northeast and western Pennsylvania in particular is getting older, poorer and less populous.

"I don't think any kind of structure is going to save the day," he said of a consolidated city. "It might forestall the inevitable."