Community groups, event organizers and other city grant applicants may not be getting as much as they requested this year.
Grant requests dipped a bit this year to $797,612, below 2016 total request of about $950,000. Bauer said that in 2016, the city was only able to fund about 70 per cent of the requests, and this year’s target was also well below the request level.
“The target budget we have set for this year is $567,000,” said Bauer. “That is lower than what we have funded in the past.”
The infrastructure deficit is part of what is driving that, he said, and staff was looking for opportunities to assist with freeing up funds to address infrastructure.
“We proceeded to tighten this budget up and reduce it from the $667,000 (2016 allocation),” said Bauer. Even though the numbers are lower, he said that represents about the same proportion as last year; in this case 71 per cent of the requests.
In the past, council has tried to shift the burden of deciding who gets funding to the Community Foundation South Okanagan. This year they developed a halfway measure and had a working group of Couns. Judy Sentes, Tarik Sayeed and staff members recommend who should be funded and by how much.
“They were able to go through the list and rationalize the requests down to a total funding of about $680,000,” said Bauer. “They were able to get us to halfway to where we need to go.”
Council spent most of the day Thursday trying to cut the remaining $114,951 out of the grant requests. Part of the discussion centered around the grant policy which includes a directive that group be weaned off reliance on city grants, phasing them down over the course of three years.
Sentes stressed that the policy included an “if appropriate” provision.
“In some of the instances, it does need to be observed a little differently,” said Sentes.
Coun. Andre Martin was concerned the city never seemed to meet the diminishing grant policy and suggested that be baked into the process.
“It just seems that we never accomplish it, yet we end up granting a whole bunch of money that people lobby us for,” said Martin, who suggested giving grants on a two to three year cycle.
“I think what they are looking for is certainty. It may not be certainty in dollars but certainty knowing they have something coming in.”
Sentes agreed the grant process creates anxiety for both applicants, and also for council.
“I think part of the anxiety is situated in the social consciousness of our community and our grant program. If we say to these non-profits ‘just go out there and look everywhere else’, believe me, some of them have already done that and so they’ve exhausted everything that is available,” said Sentes. “Our business community has only so many dollars to support. I think it comes back to council to be the partner in this.”
Even some of Penticton’s treasured events saw their grant requests reduced, including the Downtown Penticton Association summer concert series, which requested $15,000, and received $9,050.
“I am just not willing to throw tax dollars at it. We can’t afford to make all of Penticton’s great events free. Our signature event, Peachfest, I am willing to support,” said Coun. Max Picton. The Peach Festival also saw a decrease, with $1,000 chopped off their request.
Council did vote to allocate $1,500 to Canada Day fireworks, planning to engage in the planned drive to raise $20,000 for the 2017 display.