Council Talks About Leveling Playing Field for Nonprofits

Divided opinions Tuesday night about whether the City Council should give $1,500 to San Juan Hills High School for an anti-drunken-driving event sparked conversations about the appropriateness of giving taxpayer dollars to nonprofits and other charitable causes.

Despite concerns voiced by Laura Freese about San Juan's dismal financial climate and by Derek Reeve about not wanting to give away public dollars, the council voted 3-2 to give the money to the high school for Every 15 Minutes.

It was one of three votes cast Tuesday night in response to organizations asking for financial assistance. The votes were not consistent, although all five of the City Council members appeared to agree that they needed to create a policy that standardized how much and to whom they would give taxpayer money, and under what circumstances, if any, they would offer discounted rent on city-owned properties.

"The policy we have right now is: 'Do we like ya? Then we’ll give you a lower rate,' and you can’t win in that situation," said Reeve.

Here are the other votes:

• 5-0 to deny waiving development impact fees associated with the proposed relocation of the to the Resident's Cottage at in the . The fees are estimated to total between $15,000 and $39,000.
• 3-2 in favor of funding a $25,000, 2-inch potable-water line extending from the High West Side Reservoirs to the 2C Ranch, which will allow the Open Space Foundation, a nonprofit, to construct a watering trough for horses and drinking spigot for visitors. Larry Kramer and Reeve cast the dissenting votes.

Mayor Sam Allevato did take some time during the meeting to emphasize how nonprofits are tightly woven into the fabric of the community. While Reeve said he was inclined to make it a policy for the city not to give out public money to charities and nonprofit groups, Allevato said he wanted to come up with a way to accommodate them, simultaneously making it fair to all of those who seek assistance.

Currently, the council has complete discretion to give out money as it pleases and to charge rent as it sees fit. In some cases, this has , such as in the case of , a nonprofit that has paid less than the fair market value to rent the historic Congdon House.

"Yeah, OK, we've got budget problems—I understand that," said Allevato. "But I don’t want to throw out every good organization in town that has supported the community over the past 50-plus years just because people are getting hysterical regarding the budget. ... That said, we can come up with something that’s reasonable."

No specifics about how to go about creating a standardized policy were discussed Tuesday. However, the council did lay the groundwork for  coming to a consensus.