New Philadelphia, Ohio (WJER) - Tuscarawas County Commissioners are again seeking requests for Community Housing Improvement Program funds. 

Community And Economic Development Director Scott Reynolds says his department applies for the money once every two years, typically receiving between $300,000 and $350,000 for projects throughout the county. (for townships, villages and cities to use that don’t already receive their own chip allocation from the state) 

“We usually allow our townships, villages and any city that doesn’t get a direct allocation to apply through us to use parts of that money,” he explains. 

Reynolds says CHIP funding can be used for street or sidewalk improvements, flood and drainage improvements, infrastructure and even park and recreation projects, as long as they’re in low-to-moderate income areas.

“You have to qualify what’s called the service area for any project. If it’s a street, it’s usually the homes that are directly adjacent to that or on that street. With a park, if it’s in a village, you have to do the whole village and the whole village needs to qualify,” he says. 

Reynolds says allocation is usually based on census figures.