County passes budget, but non-profits slashed
The Warren County Commission passed a $62.6 million dollar budget without a property tax increase and approved the $6.5 million General Obligation Bond to fund the new Centertown School project Monday night, but in the process, cut the requested 2005-2006 funding to local charities by two-thirds.
Non-profit organizations had originally asked for a combined total of $331,000 this year, but the county only allotted a little over $119,000 – a difference of $212,000.
Two organizations accounted for over $113,000 of that savings. One of those was Lighthouse Ministries, which had recently relocated and was making its first request for funds. Lighthouse Ministries had asked for $33,715 but received no money this year, a condition that forced the organization to close down temporarily.
Ironically this situation figured prominently in the Blue Vandals’ spray painting spree involving three local youths who claimed they committed their vandalism as a protest.
And as most residents who have been following the Humane Society animal shelter controversy know, that organization accounted for $80,000 of the reduction when the shelter recently closed down after being denied funds during the continuing budget which resulted in the Budget and Finance Committee cutting its funds entirely.
According to Humane Society officials, County Executive Kenneth Rogers had informed them prior to the meeting if members tried to address the commission he would refuse to recognize them since the organization had been removed from the non-profit funding resolution entirely and were effectively not included on the docket in any form.
Though several Humane Society officials and members were present, including president Andy Anderson, none addressed the commission, vowing instead to make an effort to address the commission at its next meeting in October.
Meanwhile, the county is in the process of deciding how to handle animal control in the interim. According to officials, the county is looking into starting its own animal control program and possibly building its own shelter. Rogers said the county will be appointing a special committee to study the issue and advise the county on how to proceed.
A big part of the remaining non-profit cuts were voluntary, according to Rogers, who said he personally called most of the organizations asking them to reduce their requests.
“A lot of them cut back on their own,” Rogers said earlier in the budget process. “Some of them by 50 percent. We appreciate that since the county is in economic trouble right now.”
The following is a list of most of the non-profits involved, what they requested for 2005-2006, and what the county actually allotted.