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Sullivan County commissioners debate $200,000 cap on nonprofit funding, leave decision for later
Summary
Commissioners discussed a resolution from Commissioner Harvey to cap county nonprofit funding at $200,000 for the 2025–26 budget year, excluding fire and rescue. Debate focused on past funding levels, who approves awards and whether lodging-tax revenues can be used for parks and museums; no final vote was taken.
Commissioner Harvey introduced a resolution to cap Sullivan County’s general-allocated funding to selected nonprofits at $200,000 for the 2025–26 budget year, excluding fire and rescue services.
The measure, Harvey said, would reduce nonprofit allocations from prior years — the commission approved about $403,000 for remaining nonprofits in the 2022–23 budget, $438,000 in 2023–24 and roughly $300,000 in 2024–25 — and would not require an additional tax levy because the proposed amount is lower than recent spending.
"Following President Trump's advice, let's use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer to make the needed cuts," Commissioner Harvey said, urging a targeted approach that would direct parks- and museum-related nonprofits to lodging-tax dollars after consultation with CTAS (the County Technical Assistance Service), which she said confirmed that use was permissible.
Commissioners pressed for clarifications about implementation. Commissioner Cross asked that first-responder and firefighter funding be explicitly excluded from the cap; Harvey signaled she would accept that as an amendment. Commissioner Mates asked who would make final award decisions; Harvey said the administrative committee would review requests and make recommendations to the full commission, and that the full commission would ultimately approve awards via resolution.
County Attorney Street responded to a procedural question about enforceability, saying if the commission later approved allocations above the cap during the budget process, "you could do that with your vote," indicating the cap could be altered by a subsequent budget vote.
Other commissioners voiced differing philosophies. Commissioner Glover questioned whether taxpayer dollars should subsidize nonprofits at all, while others emphasized that many organizations provide services to schools, courts and law enforcement — for example, weekend food backpacks for children and counseling services for youth — and that cutting funding could reduce those supports.
No vote was recorded on the resolution during the meeting; commissioners left the item for further consideration and flagged it for the coming meeting cycle.
Officials said lodging-tax revenues and the amount available in that account would require confirmation from Finance Director Bailey before any specific nonprofits were shifted to that funding source.
