City department loses federal grants, searches for others - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Sioux City's Community Development Department will have to make do with hundreds of thousands of dollars less in fiscal year 2014.

On Tuesday, in operating budget talks, the city council reviewed the almost $250,000 worth of cuts. Department officials say decreases in federal grants are to blame.

They say federal money makes up a majority of their budget for things like housing assistance and housing improvement projects. Without it, the department says they've had to secure other federal grants to subsidize their losses. "Although we're requested to reduce our budget we intend to keep the same level of service," said Sioux City Community Development Operations Manager Jeff Hanson.

Hanson says stable service levels aren't a guarantee. He says if federal grants continue to get chopped down, the department's community assistance could as well.