Fairfield continues grants debate as it passes 2016 budget

FAIRFIELD GRANTS

Grant requests were made by seven organizations seeking a total of $56,500 in taxpayer money. Just $33,000 was approved to be paid to these organizations, which was approved by council on Monday:

FAIRFIELD OPERATING BUDGET

Projected revenues: $73.8 million

Projected expenditures: $72.6 million

Largest sources of income: 1.5 percent income tax at $26.5 million; charges for service (utilities, golf and aquatic center) at $19.2 million

Two largest expenditures: Public safety at $17.9 million and public utilities at $16 million

Debt: $21 million of outstanding debt with $6 million to be retired within five years and the balance to be retired within 15 years

Reserve: 25 percent of the budget at $7 million

Before Fairfield passed its balanced 2016 operating budget — which projects revenues of $73.8 million and expenditures of $72.6 million — one city council member again stated his displeasure with issuing taxpayer money as grants.

City Councilman Adam Jones said while he is pleased with the “incredible effort” staff has done to “provide a superior level of service at an incredible value,” he is equally “disappointed that council has continued the practice of issuing grants with special interest community groups.”

For the better part of a decade, the city of Fairfield has awarded grants to various community organizations for one-time capital funding. Jones said he's been carrying the torch for four years to eliminate this practice, but nothing has been done.

“It has nothing to do with the value that these groups provide, it’s more of the means to fund them. They’re taxpayer dollars,” said Jones, who added that he’s received unsolicited support from people in the public. “This practice should be stopped, and it should be stopped now.”

Over the past couple weeks, city council has discussed the grants and whether or not the city should be in the grant-making business. In 2016, $33,000 will be issued to seven organizations asking for money.

While Jones did receive support from Councilman Chad Oberson, who said he echoed his statements, others respectfully disagreed with the First Ward councilman.

Councilman Mike Snyder said the city’s budget is pretty much “utilitarian,” but “there’s also the quality of life aspect and the face we present to the wider community.”

“I acknowledge your position and certainly your comments are well taken,” said Snyder, an at-large councilman, “but I think our additional efforts to support these activities help round out our programs as a community that provides more than just strictly utilitarian types of items that people expect.”

Outgoing Councilman Marty Judd, whose final meeting was Monday, said he was the lone vote last year against paying for another bronze statue at the Community Arts Center.

“So apparently the message we want to send is if you have time and money to go out and enjoy shows at the Community Arts Center, we have a nice, pretty statue for you to look at,” said Judd. “But if you’re home hungry waiting on your Meals on Wheels to arrive, we don’t want to fund that. I think that’s wrong.”

Councilman Terry Senger, who also attended his last council meeting Monday, said there’s “a lot of hard work” that is done on behalf of the city, “and it doesn’t come free.”

“There’s a lot of things the city does, both with manpower and with finances, to make it as good a community as it is,” said Senger.

Though Jones disagrees with the practice, he still voted to support the budget because he didn’t want to “hold hostage the good work our departments do” because he disagrees with a small part of it.

All but one of the grants was in the budget legislation. The Fairfield Food Pantry’s $5,000 grant was separated as Councilman Bill Woeste sits on the pantry’s board. Jones and Oberson voted against the pantry’s grant and Woeste abstained from that vote.

Jones outlined Monday night the issues he has with giving money for the organizations, which the common theme among all the organization is that not everyone in the community can utilize the services, as opposed to city services where everyone has the opportunity to use them.

“My purpose of this is not to pick on, diminish or devalue the work these organizations do. This has nothing to do with that,” Jones said. “This is simply not an appropriate use of tax payer dollars. It doesn’t matter the amount, it doesn’t matter the value of the organization.”