During his presentation to the commission last month, Drake said the city’s support of the maintenance and programming at Millennium Park had fallen $65,000 short of the county’s funding since 2008.
The city does have a $30,000 line item in its draft budget that could go to Parks and Recreation for work at the neighborhood parks, which include Jackson Park, Cowan Park and Sixth Street Park. The proposed budget also would use $20,000 to establish a capital account for repairs, including either a liner or future replacement of the swimming pool at the Davis Recreation Complex.
Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership received the $120,000 it requested — the same amount as the current year — but not without questions and “no” votes again from Louis and Hunstad.
Louis said she disagreed with the fact that more of the city’s allocation doesn’t go directly to business recruitment activities, while Hunstad said he wants to hold back funds from agencies jointly funded by the city and the county because of the local and national economy.
“I would like to hold back (funds) and create an area in the budget for more of a reserve than what we have,” Hunstad said. “We can always allocate more at the end of the year.”
Community agencies, both those that have received money from the city and several new groups, were vying for pieces of a pie that ended up $2,000 above the current year’s allotment. The final allocations for the 14 agencies receiving funds was $137,800 compared to $135,800 this year.
Although most agencies currently receiving money were held at their current levels, only one group seeking a first-time injection of funds from the city came away happy.
Harvesting Hope on South Fourth Street, which provides meals and a food pantry, had not received money from the city in the past. The group asked for $20,000 and got $5,000.
Community Education requested $3,000 more than its current $5,000 allocation but instead got a $2,000 decrease.
Atkins was disappointed that requests from some worthy recipients were not granted in favor of others that don’t have the same impact on local residents. Atkins, who repeatedly made motions to fund groups at their full requested amount, only to see those motions die for lack of a second, argued that organizations such as Bluegrass Community Action Agency do the most to directly impact residents.
Hunstad was among those who said some of the groups, including Community Action, have large budgets of their own on which to operate.
