NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) - A
community arts council, buses with wheelchair lifts and support for artists
participating in a popular movie festival are among the items recommended for
taxpayer funding in New Hanover County this year.
The New Hanover County Budget
Office had a deadline of the end of January for non-county agencies to get
funding requests in for the 2012-13 budget. Numbers provided to WECT.com
show $776,174 in financial requests from 22 agencies. The total does not
include agencies that have multi-year contracts with the county for funding.
The county has pared back
contributions to agencies through the years. In the 2008-09 budget, the
county allocated nearly $2 million toward community groups. That number
dipped to $1.365 million during this current year.
The biggest and most ambitious
request for funding this year comes from the Cape Fear Public Transportation
Authority, which is also known as WAVE transit. WAVE has requested
$334,000 next year. Last year, the county awarded WAVE $132,939.
According to its application, WAVE needs a quarter million dollars from the
county for its operating budget and $84,000 to assist in purchasing 14 Para
Transit vehicles in 2013.
The newly formed Arts Council, which
formed at the end of last year to promote and support the local arts
community, is also making a budget request of $25,000. Paperwork
filed with the county states that money will help marketing efforts
and ensure a $25,000 matching grant from the NC Arts Council for
salary assistance.
The Arts Council's request is cut in
half from its initial request last year. In March 2011, supporters of the
Arts Council asked the county for a five year, $50,000 annual commitment.
Commissioners voted the request down.
The interim director of the Arts
Council Rhonda Bellamy said art councils in other areas get are not completely
funded by the government or by donations.
"Arts councils by their very
nature are hybrid institutions," she said. "You have a mix of public and
private support."
New Hanover County Commissioner Rick
Catlin says he supports the organization, but does not support using public
funds on it. While he plans to vote against any funding, he says he has
talked with them on ways to seek private funding.
All of the requests for funding will
go up for consideration in budget hearings in the weeks ahead. While
county officials indicated they would work with some applicants who didn't meet
the deadline, it appears some agencies have simply stopped requesting
money. AMEZ Housing Community Development Corporation, Communities in
Schools of Cape Fear, Community Boys & Girls Club of Wilmington, New
Hanover County Community Action, Inc. and Smart Start of New Hanover County all
did not have requests in by the deadline. None of those agencies received
funding in the past few years despite making requests.
Here is the full list of outside
agency funding requests as of February 2nd:
- ADR Center $15,000
- American Red Cross - Cape Fear $10,000
- Arts Council of Wilmington/New Hanover
County $25,000
- Blue Ribbon Commission $10,000
- Cape Fear Literacy Council $10,000
- Cape Fear Public Transportation
Authority/WAVE $334,000
- Cape Fear Resource Conservation &
Development $9,000
- The Carousel Center, Inc. $20,000
- The Children's Museum of Wilmington
$5,000
- Coastal Horizons/Crisis Hotline
$30,000
- Coastal Horizons/Rape Crisis Center
$10,000
- Cucalorus Film Foundation $6,000
- Domestic Violence Shelter and Services, Inc
$25,000
- Elderhaus, Inc. $49,074
- Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC
$10,000
- Good Shepherd Ministries $50,000
- Highway 17 Association
$10,000
- Keep America Beautiful of NHC $8,100
- Kids Making It,
Inc. $25,000
- Leading Into New Communities, Inc.
$25,000
- New Hanover Soil & Water Conservation
District $65,000
- United Way/10 year plan to end chronic
homelessness $25,000
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