CITY NOTES: Furnace replacement program has biggest year

By Tim Fox, Executive Director, Charles City Area Development Corp.

We are wrapping up the 2019 Floyd County Housing Trust Fund Furnace Replacement Program. The program began in 2004, and 2019 yielded the most new furnace installations of any year — 49.

Once again, the program provides new furnaces in owner-occupied residences anywhere in Floyd County. Eligible recipients fall within either the 0-30 percent or 31-50 percent median income categories.

This year the 30 percent threshold for a one- or two-person household (100 percent of furnace paid for by program) was $21,930. The maximum amount in the 31-50 percent cohort (75 percent of new furnace covered by program) was $36,550.

Other requirements include the necessity of homeowner’s insurance, property taxes must be current and the existing furnace must be at least 10 years old.

Charles City Area Development Corp. was fortunate to be awarded a Housing Preservation Grant from USDA Rural Development. This is a competitive application with only two recipients in Iowa. Many thanks to USDA Rural Development, in particular the Iowa Falls office, for this opportunity and their wise counsel.

The other source of financing is via the State Housing Trust Fund, administered by the Iowa Finance Authority.

For many years Floyd County was a standalone Housing Trust Fund; two years ago we merged with the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG) Housing Trust Fund.

The joint venture portends greater funding amounts for each county. In addition, NIACOG completes all the administrative requirements.

I would also like to thank our local furnace contractors. They universally comply with my requirements of them, which are predicated upon use of federal funds. Installations are done on time and on budget, and for the quality of Floyd County based HVAC contractors we are quite appreciative.

We are also quite appreciative of the work performed by the Charles City Code Enforcement Department. The department inspects all furnace installations within the program, both in Charles City and outside the corporate limits.

As you may imagine, this program involves a great deal of paperwork. Thanks to CCADC Project Facilitator Cathy McGregor for performing the bookkeeping and Executive Assistant Christy Laube for accommodating our clients.

One facet of the Furnace Replacement Program we seek to alter is the preponderance of Charles City installations. We need to do a better job at outreach in targeting rural residents and residents of communities other than Charles City.

We publicize via newspapers, radio, letters to churches, dispatches to city councils and we post the application at our website, www.charlescityia.com.

Should you desire to file an application next year (the program will probably be announced in August or September) and wish to be on the application mailing list, please phone 641-228-3020 and we will see that you receive one when published. Or feel free to email me at tfox@charlescityia.com and I will place you on the list.

Finally, thank you to all our 2019 clients. This is a meaningful program and it provides CCADC staff with a great deal of satisfaction. Thanks, recipients, for your forthrightness and willingness to comply with programmatic dictates.