Rock County board debates changing how community agency funds are awarded; motion to send issue back to committee passes

Public commenters from several Rock County nonprofits told the Board of Supervisors on June 5 that centralizing administration of the county’s community-initiative funding under the county administrator helps preserve rapid, coordinated services for survivors, children and older adults.

Speakers including Kelsey Hood Christianson of Family Services of Southern Wisconsin, Heidi Deininger of YWCA Rock County, Cindy Browning of RSVP of Rock County and others described how centralized funding supports cross-department collaboration and quick responses to crises, and urged the board not to shift the grants into individual departmental budgets.

The comments preceded a lengthy board discussion of a resolution introduced by Supervisors Schwartz and Sutter and presented to the full board by Supervisor Towns that would discontinue the current practice of holding unrestricted charitable allocations in the administrator’s budget. Towns and others said the intent was to ensure tax-funded grants have a documented public purpose and statutory authority and that direct…