OCEAN CITY — With the budget cycle now well underway, resort officials this week tried to hammer out a policy by which donations to various non-profit organizations and programs are made.
During budget deliberations last year, the Mayor and Council often had spirited debates about which non-profit organizations and programs should be supported by the town’s spending plan. Each year, dozens of non-profits in the area make requests for appropriations from the town’s budget at varying levels of funding. Each year, the council reviews the requests and decide which ones are worthy of inclusion in the budget and at what level.
Last year, the issue came to a head when some requests were funded and others were left out. That debate was largely couched in terms of the town’s ongoing debate with Worcester County over tax differential and the level of funding the town provides in comparison with what the county provides. Some of the non-profit organizations and institutions on the list last year included Atlantic General Hospital, Wor-Wic Community College, Worcester Youth and Family Counseling and Diakonia, among others.
This week, at the outset of a new budget deliberation season, the council attempted to nail down a policy by which grants and other contributions to non-profits should be made. City Manager Doug Miller explained Tuesday’s debate was not an attempt to identify which non-profits should receive funding, but rather establish a process for how those decisions are made.
Miller explained funds are traditionally granted to those organizations that ensure the availability of goods and services the town does not already provide. The grants also help mitigate community challenges such as health care, homelessness, addiction and abuse, for example. The organizations that request funding from the town certainly fill that bill for the most part, but the challenge remains on which ones to support and at what level.
“We want to try to determine who best to process and accept requests,” he said. “We should use public taxpayer money on those causes and organizations that best supplement our own municipal services.”
Councilman Wayne Hartman pointed out some of the requests for funding were approved last year, while others were not. He pointed out Atlantic General Hospital’s grant request was not approved, although that issue has been resolved earlier this year with the town agreeing to an annual contribution.
“How do we pick and choose when they all do good for the community?” he said. “I think any of these non-profits supplement our services. Should we fund them or not? I don’t know how we sit here and pick and choose. How can we say yes to one and no to another without some stated policy.”
Hartman offered a solution for how to solve the non-profit funding request issue.
“I think we need to establish a number and then divide it appropriately based on the requests,” he said. “I don’t want to sit up here and make those decisions willy-nilly. I think we need to have a number in our budget, and if we say we’re putting in $100,000 or $200,000 for these requests, we can take a look at each one and allocate that appropriately.”
Councilman Dennis Dare said each request should be viewed in terms of what it provides to the Ocean City community.
“I think it should a matter of what service it provides for the town,” he said. “Our police deal with the homeless everyday and they constantly call Diakonia or the Life Crisis Center. We essentially hand off that responsibility.”
Miller said the current policy should remain in place.
“What I’m hearing is to continue to do this at budget time and decide these on a case-by-case basis,” he said.
