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City manager outlines $271,800 for grants, council to review recognition-group requests
Summary
At a Greenbelt City Council work session on the draft FY2026 budget, staff presented a $271,800 grants-and-contributions pool — up from $209,700 last year — and described four funding categories. Council scheduled recognition-group presentations and flagged several advisory-board requests for later decision.
The City of Greenbelt’s staff told the council at a work session that the draft FY2026 budget includes $271,800 for grants and contributions, up from $209,700 in the prior year, and asked council members to review funding requests before final adoption.
The grants-and-contributions line is divided into four categories: organizational leaders (for positions such as swim coaches and concert band conductors); recognition groups (selected through an application and review panel process); a grants category that has included recipients such as Meals on Wheels and refugee assistance programs; and advisory boards and committees. City manager (staff) said the larger pool reflects savings found elsewhere in the budget and gives council flexibility to restore reductions made in departmental budgets, such as Recreation.
The extra funding will let council consider restoring services cut in departmental budgets and respond to midyear needs, staff said. The recognition-group requests will be presented to the council during two work sessions in May; staff said the grant-review panel — managed by Recreation and Arts staff — will score applications and offer funding recommendations prior to those presentations.
Staff listed advisory-board and committee line items in the draft: ACE $18,000; Green ACES/Green Team (one combined $1,000 request was identified by council members); PSAC $1,900; Forest Preserve Advisory Board $2,000; and an initial reparations commission request of $23,000 that the commission later amended to $29,000. City manager (staff) said some of those preloaded amounts came from prior-year awards and that staff liaisons had been asked to submit current written requests for FY2026.
Council members asked staff to follow up with organizations that had not yet submitted written requests, including GIVS (Gifts), Meals on Wheels, CERT, CART and some arts groups. Council member Kristen Weaver and others asked staff to confirm whether Green ACES and the Green Team had submitted separate requests or a single combined request; staff said they had proactively added both line items and would move $1,000 if one was redundant.
Council also discussed a discretionary "miscellaneous" pot (line 99) that staff said typically holds about $36,500 after initial organization allocations and can be used during the fiscal year for unanticipated needs. Several council members asked staff to include simple performance indicators with future grant materials so council can see how many people a request serves and the key objectives for the funding.
The reparations commission’s updated request of $29,000 includes $3,000 the commission said will be used for editing and publishing its report; the commission chair (Doctor Rosado) said the group had interviewed roughly 20 people and was seeking funds to complete outreach and finalize the commission report. Council indicated the commission and other recognition groups should present in the May work sessions.
Staff: "We itemized reductions and moved some funding into this grants and contributions pool so council can restore priorities later," the city manager (staff) said. Council scheduled recognition-group presentations and asked staff to circulate written requests that had already been filed.
The work session is a deliberative meeting; no votes were taken on grants during the session. Council members and staff agreed to follow up with applicants and to present the grant-review committee’s recommendations at upcoming meetings.
