Supporting Aberdeen’s involvement in the North Carolina Main Street Program seems easy, but funding the program may be a little more difficult.

The Aberdeen Board of Commissioners discussed the Main Street Program during a special meeting Tuesday night.

The town is considering whether to reapply to become an active member of the Main Street Program. Aberdeen joined the program in 1990, but soon became inactive.

Town officials praised the program but are reluctant to commit to it unless they are sure they can make the monetary commitments of the minimum three-year requirement.

“I don’t see any negatives,” Mayor Pro Tem Robbie Farrell said. “It just boils down to how we are going to pay for it.”

The N.C. Main Street Program assists selected communities across the state in restoring economic vitality to their historic downtowns. Using a comprehensive downtown revitalization process developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Main Street encourages economic development within the context of historic preservation.

The program emphasizes a four-point approach for downtown revitalization and historic preservation: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring.

The commissioners discussed the program for more than 90 minutes but took no formal action, deciding instead to wait until the town completes its budget. Mayor Betsy Mofield and Commissioner Jim Thomas didn’t attend the meeting.

Town Planner Kathy Liles reviewed a preliminary budget for the Planning Department with the commissioners. The Main Street Program would fall within the department.

During her review, Liles highlighted several higher-cost items that she said are fast becoming priorities, such as having a new land development plan, which she called “insufficient” for the town’s needs.

“What is biting us right now is we have some things that have been deferred over the past few years and put the town behind the eight ball,” Liles said.

The total budget for the Main Street Program is estimated to be more than $87,000 the first year. More than half of that cost is estimated to be the salary for a Main Street program manager, a requirement of the program.

To be involved in the program, the Main Street Association requires a three-year commitment. Much of the cost is funded by the municipality in the first year. In subsequent years, a public-private partnership would fund the program, lifting some of the financial burden from the town.

Liles told the commissioners that some of the cost of the Main Street Program could be offset through grants and other line items in the budget.

Liles estimated that the budget for the Main Street Program would add about $27,000 to her budget in 2012-2013.

In the past two years, the budgets have been tight, and the commissioners have had to dip into the fund balance. All said they don’t want to do that again.

For that reason, the commissioners said they wanted to see a budget before committing fully to the program.

“If you are going to do this you want it to last,” Commissioner Alan Parker said. “You don’t want it to be starting and stopping, which is the situation we are in now.”

Previously, when Aberdeen was an active member of the program, it wasn’t required to have a full-time downtown manager. Now the program requires Aberdeen to have a manager because if its population.

Liles also told the board that it is possible to structure a program around the Main Street principles without reapplying to the program. The benefit would be that the town is not locked into hiring a downtown manager.

The negatives would be there would be extra burden on staff, Liles said. In addition, going it alone would mean the town would lose the expertise provided by the Main Street Program.

Commissioner Pat Ann McMurray stressed the importance of having a qualified manager, who could deal with both the local business community as well as the board.

“We need somebody as a manager who can walk the fence and listen to both sides,” she said.

Several downtown property owners and business owners voiced their support for the Main Street Program.

“Main Street could be the stimulus for the downtown we are all looking for,” said Elease Goodwin, a downtown property owner. “You have this opportunity. I would jump on it.”

In order to reapply to the program, Aberdeen would have to submit a detailed application, which has already been completed. There is no deadline to apply.

The town should begin reviewing the budget over the next couple of months and should have a completed document in May.

“If we can put it in the budget, then this application can go in the mail,” Farrell said.

Contact Tom Embrey at tembrey@thepilot.com.