State College Borough Council members returned Thursday from the League of Cities meeting, held in Washington, D.C., with an amendment that will aid the borough in its quest for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.

The amendment was offered by Sen. Rick Santorum and passed by the Senate.

The council members and borough manager Tom Fountaine met Wednesday with U.S. Senators Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Santorum, R-Pa., and U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa.

They asked the lawmakers to support four State College Borough projects in the 2007 federal budget -- reapplying for CDBG and HOME Investment Partnerships program funds, realigning Fraser Street, improving interoperability, which involves first-response agencies, and receiving profit from the Cable Communications Act.

Borough Council President Cathy Dauler said the National League of Cities meeting is always valuable.

"It is always very worthwhile, and the time we spend on Capitol Hill is always well spent," Dauler said.

Fountaine said the top two priorities were reapplying for the CDBG program and HOME funds and realigning Fraser Street.

Dauler said Santorum offered an amendment to the president's budget that would restore full funding to the CDBG funds. Fountaine said the amendment does not apply to HOME funds. "President Bush had reduced funding by 25 percent, and every year he tries to eliminate the program all together or move it to another department," Dauler said.

Santorum's amendment aims to increase funding for the CDBG program by $1.3 billion, bringing the total CDBG funding included in the budget to $4.3 billion, Maureen Ryan, Santorum's assistant press secretary, said.

"CDBG funding has been extremely helpful in assisting Pennsylvania's communities leverage millions of dollars of funding for community development and economic renewal," Santorum said in a press release. "I am committed to protecting CDBG funding, which is crucial to the development and growth of both rural and urban areas of Pennsylvania."

Fountaine said the borough would know what CDBG funds it received after the federal budget is passed later this year.

He said CDBG funds go to support housing programs and grants and loans for homeowners.

Dauler said it is unknown what funds the borough would receive from CDBG and HOME and when the funds might be received.

Fountaine added that the borough does not know when or how much funding it will receive for the Fraser Street project.

Council members also discussed interoperability, which involves police and fire departments being able to communicate with each other via analog spectrum, Fountaine said.

Dauler said a law was passed that required interoperability to be available by 2009. The State College Borough wants to change the date to 2007.

Council's fourth priority was to discuss the Cable Communications Act and the borough's ability to receive a percentage of cable operators' profits.

Dauler said the changes to telecommunications legislation are a matter of ongoing local control.

She said that currently, the borough receives a small percentage of the money made by the telecommunications industry. "We want to keep local control, and the telecommunications giants do not," Dauler said. "It is uncertain when this will be resolved."

Fountaine said the meetings in Washington, D.C., went well.

"We had positive feedback from all three congressmen," he said.