By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The village is not giving out the majority of HOME and CDBG home improvement grant money they’ve received, according to documents presented to the village board on Wednesday, and the mayor says they can do better.

Robin Wolpin, who works with Massena landlord Tom Spinner, said they applied for grants to refurbish two apartment houses on Woodlawn Avenue and were denied.

“If you look at this carefully, you’ll see $500,000 was never awarded. The deadline’s gone by to use some of it,” Wolpin told the board. “The deadline’s already passed and we did not use $114,000 of that money.”

Dale Beaulieu, who has been working with the code office on an interim basis with tasks including grant administration, sent her a letter Oct. 13 that says the village was eligible to give out $288,000 in HOME grants and awarded $114,000. He said the village got have given out $340,000 in Community Development Block Grant money and awarded none.

“We’ve realized we haven’t maximized the ability of that office … when Dale came in, there was a considerable backload,” Currier said. “Without excuses, we have a substantial need to expand that office and look at how it’s run. I offer my apologies.”

He said the best way to combat blight in town “is through that office.”

Wolpin’s initial letter to Beaulieu asked who was getting the monies that were paid out and he replied “Confidential.”

The grants pay the lion’s share of improvements on low-income housing, with the property owner paying a fraction of the cost. They are awarded after proving income for all people living in the building and submitting a work plan.

Wolpin said she thought the village would jump at an opportunity to improve buildings on Woodlawn, which is mostly low-income housing and has had issues with blight for decades.

“I’m talking about two buildings on Woodlawn,” Wolpin said.