Non-profits plead for more funds

The non-profit agencies which ask Shelbyville and Bedford County governments for contributions are facing the hard reality of continued tight budgets for local governments.

As reported last month, 11 of the 22 agencies which ask Shelbyville for funding have asked for increases. The requests total $290,053, and the increased funding being sought is $23,500.

Similarly, the county has 19 non-profit agency requests (not counting the six volunteer fire stations, which are separate from, but affiliated with, Bedford County Fire Department). Of the county's requests, 14 include increases. The requests total $354,449, an increase of $47,212 over what those agencies are currently receiving.

Whether those increases will be granted is another matter. Neither the city nor the county has begun formal discussion of what to do about the non-profit requests; each should hold its first such meeting within the next week or two. But debate and discussion at recent meetings indicates that both governments are still suffering from flat revenue growth and increased expenses for their own in-house operations, perhaps leaving little money to pass along in the form of funding increases.

The agencies which ask for, and receive, city and county funding range from health and human service agencies, to arts and cultural organizations, to tourism promotion, crime prevention and soil conservation.

For example, Bedford County Arts Council currently receives $7,125 from the county and $17,500 from the city, but is asking each government for $20,000 this year.

"Although event attendance has increased," wrote Arts Council chairman Mike Novak, "the slumping economy has taken a toll on private and public donations and we need your help."

Some agencies are requesting funding from a particular government even though they don't currently receive any. In the city budget, First Choice Pregnancy Counseling Center and Haven of Hope, a domestic violence shelter, are both requesting city funds even though they aren't getting any in the current city budget. Community Clinic of Shelbyville & Bedford County is requesting a monetary contribution from the county even though it's not in the current county budget. (The clinic does benefit from use of a county-owned building.)

Not all agencies are asking for increases.

Joe Tillett, who chairs the county's Financial Management Committee, said he hasn't yet seen the projected working budget document for next year. But Tillett said the county has priorities of its own.

"What we want to do is give our employees some kind of raise," said Tillett. County employees have gone without a raise for three years, he said, receiving only a small bonus as a result of the tight budget situation. "It's really time for us to do something."

It would cost an estimated $250,000 to give county employees a 3 percent raise, said Tillett. Tillett said that he had not seen the working figures and that he was speaking only for himself, but he admitted that might leave less room to grant any sort of increase for non-profit agencies.

Some of the same agencies that ask city and county governments for contributions also receive funding from United Way of Bedford County, which has seen its fund-raising totals suffer from the bad economy. According to executive director Dawn Holley, United Way only had $95,000 to allocate to member agencies for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, as compared to $110,000 the previous year.

Caregiver Relief Program, which currently gets $3,800 from the county and $1,500 from the city, is asking for $4,000 from the county and $2,000 from the city, and mentioned the decline in United Way funding in its request letter.