As part of a long budget review session, Council today selected who would get community grants from the 2020 budget. The budget for grants was limited to $50,000 but $143K was requested. The total budget review meeting was scheduled to take at least from 10:00 pm to 5:00 pm but over-ran and will continue on Friday at 10:00 am (look for follow-up reports about this tomorrow or later). In advance of the meeting, Councillor Adam Bureau had worked with deputy mayor Suzanne Séguin to come up with a list of recipients and he went through these one by one. Other councillors wanted additions and changes – decisions for four of them were deferred to the end of the review and the dollars remaining were then split amongst them so that the total grant budget came close to $50K.
Some grants were approved at the amounts requested; others were denied either because they did not meet grant policy requirements or because there was insufficient budget. Some were nominal amounts because the Council wanted simply to show support (that’s my interpretation of what was said – mostly by Nicole Beatty).
The whole approval process – at least at the meeting – was relatively short. Councillors were mostly in agreement with the decisions made by Adam and Suzanne although a few were added, cut or increased.
The list below is in the sequence that grants were discussed. The four that were deferred for a decision to receive what was left over are shown by an asterisk * – they were initially denied.
| Asked | Approved | Comment | |
| Cobourg & District Historical Society | $1,517 | $989 | No $ for security |
| Cobourg Collegiate Institute | $350 | $0 | |
| Cobourg Ecology Garden | $2,425 | $2,000 | As approved in 2019 |
| Cobourg Farmers Market Association | $7,929 | $0 | |
| Cobourg Highland Games | $2,900 | $2,000 | |
| Cobourg Museum Foundation – Property Taxes | $4,000 | $4,000 | |
| Cobourg Museum Foundation – Capital Grant | $6,000 | $5,500 | |
| Community Care Northumberland | $2,000 | $2,000 | |
| Fem Blodgett Sunde Commemoration | $7,000 | $1,000 | |
| Green Wood Coalition | $3,000 | $2,000 | |
| Horizon of Friendship * | $6,500 | $500 | Many events are not in Cobourg |
| La Jeunesse Choirs | $2,000 | $1,200 | |
| Les Amis | $5,000 | $2,000 | |
| Marie Dressler | $15,000 | $4,000 | |
| Northumberland 89.7 FM | $3,220 | $720 | |
| Northumberland Community Counselling Centre | $20,000 | $1,000 | Must be for clinical support not admin |
| Northumberland Hispanic Cultural Club * | $2,500 | $500 | |
| Northumberland Learning Connection | $3,000 | $0 | |
| Northumberland Orchestra | $5,000 | $1,000 | |
| Oriana Singers | $3,000 | $1,000 | |
| OSGA 55+ Games | $250 | $250 | |
| Sound of The Next Generation | $2,500 | $1,500 | |
| Terry Fox Public School- Learning Life Skills Classes | $528 | $0 | |
| The Children’s Foundation * | $3,200 | $1,000 | For 2 Cobourg children |
| Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club | $5,500 | $5,500 | Parking passes |
| The Help Centre | $8,000 | $2,000 | ESL program |
| Therapeutic Paws of Canada | $415 | $243 | |
| Transition House Coalition of Northumberland * | $11,000 | $1,673 | |
| Victoria Hall Volunteers | $5,000 | $5,000 | |
| Victorian Operetta Society | $4,000 | $1,000 | |
| Total | $142,734 | $49,575 |
Other groups were funded separately – e.g. the AGN. See later reports (tomorrow?) on this site for those.
Changes are unlikely but these amounts are not official until the full budget is approved on 3 February 2020.
Links
Grant Requests well over Budget – 26 Nov 2019
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Help me understand why the largest grant given was to offset parking expenses at the lawn bowling club? There are a lot of great proposals that NEED support (including 2 schools, transition house, children’s foundation, counselling centres, farmers market, and many others), yet when I read the approved list, it feels like the money is being spent more on museums and clubs? Many are worthwhile, but the town’s priorities seem out of line …
Rather than “thumbs down” down me, share your insights. I’m legitimately asking for folks to help me understand what, in my perspective, appears to be spending tax money on clubs that wealthy people join rather than spending it on services that help disadvantaged people in our community. But if there is a flaw in my understanding or I’m missing a piece of the puzzle, please educate me!
I do not lawn bowl, but my understanding is this not a club restricted to wealthy people. Rather it provides activity for what appears to be seniors – although their web site does offer programs for youth, adult and seniors. Cost is $175 for adults and $40 for youth for the season which is lengthy and runs bowling 5 days per week providing activities and outings in a nice location by the beach/park. Offering a town subsidy through parking passes in my view represents a “payment in kind” contribution and not a direct use of tax payers dollars; as we don’t know if the full amount of parking fees would have been paid.
one third of grants applied for approved. does this mean that some needy recipients are losing out, or is council just showing restraint with tax payers money?