MORRISBURG – When it comes to municipal grant and donation requests South Dundas council will give everyone, almost everything they have asked for with only a few exceptions.
At the March 13 regular meeting, council discussed the disbursement of grants and donations.
Having $107,500 set aside in the budget to fulfill community donation requests, council needed only to make $13,300 worth of cuts from the funds requested to achieve their budget goal.
While council had questions about a couple of the requests such as the JW MacIntosh Community Support Services transportation driver funding request ($21,100) and the Beyond 21 request ($12,000 general funding for participant, equipment and supply costs), they still opted to provide significant funding.
Council agreed to provide $10,000 for the JWCSS transportation driver and $5,000 to Beyond 21. While council is familiar with the services of JWCSS which is located in South Dundas (Williamsburg) they were much less certain about Beyond 21 which is located in Cornwall.
“I’d love to give to them all, but we simply can’t afford it,” said South Dundas councillor Danielle Ward. “We should go visit these places so we have a better idea for next year.”
South Dundas mayor Jason Broad and deputy mayor Marc St. Pierre both recommended that council consider cutting the Mountain Township Agricultural Society’s funding request, since SDG council opted to increase contributions for local fairs in the counties budget. They fully cut the $5,000 South Mountain Fair funding request.
Councillor Ward did ask questions about the Iroquois-Matilda Lions Club’s $6,000 request for community garden maintenance, but that funding request was still granted in full.
By cutting more than was necessary, council will have $10,000 available within the current budget to fulfill any future donation requests.