One major hurdle stands in the way of the former Lansford Elks building coming down - money.

On Thursday, the Carbon County Commissioners said that funding is coming up just under $18,000 short because of asbestos abatement that must be completed before the demolition of the building at 6 E. Ridge St. can proceed.The commissioners allotted $127,791 in Community Development Block Grant money for the demolitionIn December, the commissioners awarded the project contract to Northeast Industrial Services Corporation of Shamokin at a cost of $118,748, but the project was delayed in January after it was determined that asbestos was present throughout the building.The board said that Lansford needs to come up with the remaining costs that are not covered in the grant."We would like to help, but it's very difficult," Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said.Commissioner William O'Gurek said usually the municipality is required to pay for the additional costs of a project after all CDBG funds are exhausted, but Lansford doesn't have the funds to cover this."The project has been held at this time until the funding can be figured out," he said. "I can tell you this, we do not have any more fluid funds in CDBG that we can shift from other projects."The commissioners said that they are currently waiting for an answer from the Department of Community and Economic Development to see if someone other than Lansford, such as the county, could cover the additional expense.The county would then get reimbursed through next year's CDBG grant, which has $20,000 earmarked for new doors at Lansford's community center.The commissioners have reservations about doing this because it has never been done.It would use taxpayer money up front until the general fund is reimbursed, opening the door for other municipalities to ask for funding help directly from the county.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard also suggested seeing if a payment plan option would be available."We feel for the residents of Lansford and for the borough," he said. "It's a struggling community but there are also other municipalities out there who need the money too. We certainly want to do what we have to do to get that building down. We have a lot of time and money invested in this project."Nothstein added that this is an issue because the CDBG program provides money for both entitlement and nonentitlement communities.Lansford lost its entitlement status following the 2010 census, meaning that now it must share in the pot of money the county receives to distribute to nonentitlement communities for projects."We try to share in the allotments of the CDBG funds and average it out over the years so everyone gets the same," Nothstein said."We understand there's blight in Lansford and it's a safety issue, but we only have so much funding. We can't always be giving it to Lansford too. We have other municipalities too with the same problems."O'Gurek said that even though the project sounds like it may be at risk, it is not."We're going to figure this out," he said. "We're going to get that building down. We've got to get it down soon."The county said that it hopes to have an answer on how to proceed in the next week or two.Earlier this month, Lansford Borough Council discussed the inspection results from TCI Environmental Service. Issues in the basement included a large refrigerator or freezer; two fuel oil tanks which possibly contain fuel oil or sludge; and containers of oil, paint and other hazardous materials that must be remediated.