Non-profits ask county for $100K more in funding
Non-profit organizations in Warren County have raised their monetary requests for the 2005-2006 budget by more than $105,000, a close to 50 percent increase over last year, according to figures collated by Director of Accounts Linda Hillis.
Requests escalated from around $226,000 in 2004-2005 to over $331,000 this year.
Of the 22 non-profit organizations requesting money, 16 asked for more funds than they did in 2004-2005, but just four of those were responsible for almost 90 percent of the increase.
The most substantial jump came from the American Red Cross which received a donation of $500 in 2004-2005 and requested $40,164 this year for an increase of $39,664. Next came Lighthouse Ministries, which marked its first year to solicit funds, with a request of $33,715.
Families in Crisis, which received $10,000 in 2004-2005, asked for $25,000 this year, a $15,000 increase. The fourth highest increase came from the Child Advocacy Center which received $5,000 last year and requested $8,960 this year, an increase of $3,960.
These four organizations alone accounted for a total of $92,339 out of the $105,000 increase in non-profit requests this year.
County Executive Kenneth Rogers felt it was too early in the budget process to determine how much could be reasonably allocated to non-profits.
“I wouldn’t really entertain a motion to adopt any of them tonight,” Rogers continued. “I think this is something we’re going to have to spend some time on.”
Though the county is not adverse to donating to non-profits, as evidenced by the $226,000 given out last year, Rogers is concerned about how the ballooning size of non-profit requests might affect the total budget and as a result, he suggested holding off discussing them until near the end of budget talks.
“I would like to entertain a motion to put this off until we get the other departments and the budget already set,” Rogers said, “and then look at this to see what money we’ve got left over that we can actually afford to give to these organizations. Because I’d hate to pass this and then have to have a property tax increase just to do the non-profits.”
Rogers pointed out that with 1 cent of property tax generating around $48,000 it would take more than a 2-cent increase in property taxes just to cover the increase in non-profit requests this year if funds could not be found elsewhere.
Though the majority of commissioners support local non-profits and the work they do, voting to allocate substantial donations every year, some, like commissioner Wayne Pryor, feel there should be other outlets for funds.
“Now these are non-profits and they are not dependent on us to stay in business,” Pryor said. “They’re coming and asking us to help them out, but if it takes our appropriation for them to exist, then there is something amiss.”
Rogers said the county has always supported worthy programs and has had a good relationship with local non-profit organizations and wants to keep that going.
“Almost every one of them has been very appreciative of what we have given them,” Rogers said.
Ultimately, as Rogers suggested, the committee voted unanimously to put off non-profit allocations until the end of budget talks this year.
It doesn’t hurt to ask
A list of local non-profits requesting funds from county government: