BAY MINETTE, Ala. — While the Bay Minette Housing Authority recently received its annual funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the amount is down $25,000 from last year.

The Housing Authority was recently awarded $128,862 in HUD funding.

“This is a yearly thing,” Bay Minette Housing Authority Executive Director Bruce Lovett said in a telephone interview.

He said making repairs with an ever-decreasing budget requires strategic maneuvers.

“We’re wondering how low it’s going to go,” Lovett said. “With a decrease in funding, you have to prioritize and do what you have to do not what you want to do.

“It’s kind of like a chess game,” he said. “You have to plan your moves ahead of time. When you depend on the government for the vast majority of your funding, you have to be very careful on how and when you spend the money.”

According to Lovett, many of the Authority’s 107 apartments were built in the 1960s. So necessary maintenance  includes upgrades to roofing, dry-wall and cabinets.

“We can’t just come in and overhaul everything,” he said. We don’t have the funding for that. We have to be very careful not to start projects that use up capital funding.”

While the U.S. Office of Public Affairs and the Bay Minette Housing Authority may hold differing opinions on the scale of the funding’s ability, both entities agree on practical uses.

A U.S. Office of Public Affairs news release announced the division of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants. It states that funds “will allow these agencies to make major large-scale  improvements to their public-housing units.”

The news release, by the Office of Public Affairs Secretary Shaun Donovan, explained the capital-fund program as one that “provides annual funding to all public-housing authorities to build, repair, renovate and-or modernize the public housing in their communities. This funding can be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.”

Another stumbling block for the upcoming financial year is the forced use of previous years’ savings, Lovett explained.

“The present administration has decided that those housing authorities that have been frugal and saved money over the years have to spend that money for our operating fund and they will give other authorities the regular amount,” he said.

Lovett said that the Authority had tried to save money in case of damages from storms since hurricanes Ivan and Katrina came with no additional funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We’re on our own with whatever we can get out of the insurance companies,” he said. “Don’t get caught in a situation where Mother Nature gives you a tornado. How can you replace buildings with $128,000?”

Lovett referred to the late-April events where tornadoes in Tuscaloosa wiped out two housing authorities.

Lovett said the Bay Minette Housing Authority must do its best despite obstacles.

“Just like everybody else, we have to tighten our belts and prioritize,” he said, “and that’s what we’re doing.”