By Moses Leos III
The nonprofits asking Buda to fork over funding may be asked to fork over more information to the city first.
On Aug. 28, during a special city council meeting, the city council directed staff to force nonprofits to provide more information about how the money will benefit Buda residents. Council members felt the lack of quantitative data clouded the city’s ability to make decisions about the funding.
Last week’s discussion was in response to the FY 2013-14 nonprofit funding requests. Five organizations – CASA, Hays Caldwell Women’s Center, Onion Creek Senior Citizens Center, Youth Council and Early Childhood Intervention requested a total of $38,720 earlier in the month.
At the time, Buda’s proposed annual budget allocated only $17,000 for nonprofits. On Aug. 28, Buda Finance Director Sidonna Faust announced an increase of the nonprofit budget to $25,000, which still falls $13,720 short of the requested funds.
During the special meeting, council was poised to discuss how they were to divvy up the money.
The meeting never developed to that point.
Council member Eileen Altmiller provided a breakdown of how she felt the funds should be allocated. However, several council members were uneasy at separating funds.
Wiley Hopkins felt more quantitative criteria was needed before numbers are crunched.
Ron Fletcher seconded his thoughts. He felt the city needed to heed state law, which requires the city ensure services are rendered in return for non-profit funding.
Mostly, he felt the need to make sure taxpayer dollars were well spent. Especially when the city has proposed to raise the tax rate.
“State law says you don’t give away taxpayer dollars,” Fletcher said.
One of the favorable options was to force nonprofits to provide concrete numbers. Numbers such as how many cases did they serve in Buda last year, how much did it cost per case, and what is the anticipated caseload for the budget year.
Council had asked nonprofits over the past few years, but few have met the standard. In the FY 13-14 funding requests, only CASA and the Hays/Caldwell Women’s Shelter provided such information.
Buda directed staff to ask nonprofits to send in that information. Only then can staff figure out if a nonprofit is worthy of receiving funding.
Altmiller understood how controversial the subject is. She has seen how ugly the fight over nonprofit funding can be.
“I’ve watched this for many years from the audience,” Altmiller said. “It provokes so much controversy and ill will. We need a better process. We need to work on it.”
While she was not quite as adamant as Fletcher, Altmiller did say the city needed to justify spending the money.
Mayor Todd Ruge believed the council took a step in the right direction and did “the right thing.” In addition, he was pleased at how the council discussed the direction to that point.
He said Buda is a “sophisticated city.” The need to come up with a better option to give nonprofit funds is necessary.
“We need to see these types of numbers to make the best estimate that we can on who deserves what allocation,” Ruge said. “In the past, we rewarded [nonprofits] that did not give information because [funding] was there."
While the template option is there, it is not set in stone. Other options were floated, including having a committee that recommends funding. The idea of asking nonprofits to turn in quarterly numbers in order to receive funds was also discussed.
For now, the council will plug in the $25,000 budget, and work out how funds will be given. With more information, they hope to finally solve this issue.
Ruge understands the causes are all worthy. However, now is the time for them to step up.
“We have given them plenty of chances to comply. We are going to give them more chances,” he said. “Maybe it was not clear enough. But they are now going to have to comply, or they are going to be on the short end of the stick.”
Buda will finalize their budget on Sept. 20.
