Commissioners questioned how the committee overseeing non-profit funding determined the amounts given to each non-profit for fiscal year 2023.
The committee received forty-three applicant requests, totaling $1.6 million dollars – that’s more applicants, and more requested funding, than last year.
The committee stated they received less funding for this year, but according to county manager Chris Coudriet, they received $950,000 dollars – the same as last year.
County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said it’s not fair to decrease the funding of nonprofits that are doing good work in the community just because more applicants were received.
“Why not limit things to those that were already getting funding if they were doing a great job as opposed to diluting what they were used to getting from the county," he said.
The committee followed a rubric to score the non-profits on a scale of 1-4. The scores were sent back to county staff who then placed each non-profit in three tiers. Each tier has a cap percentage on the funding being asked.
The budget also recommends commissioners fund an additional 1.2 million dollars on top of the $950,000 to meet the needs of the community through the growing nonprofits.