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Pueblo County commissioners discuss $500 sponsorships for local nonprofits, decline funding an individual pageant entry
Summary
County staff presented three funding requests for local events. Commissioners signaled support for $500 sponsorships to nonprofit fundraisers but said they would not fund an individual's pageant expenses. No formal binding vote was recorded on the requests at the work session.
Tommy Ferrell, a county staff member presenting funding requests, told the Pueblo County Board of County Commissioners that he had three items: one follow-up and two new requests for the board's discretionary line-item funds.
Ferrell said the follow-up request came from Kelly Sloan for the Ag Her Culture pageant and that Sloan told staff the $500 would be used for her own pageant expenses to travel around Colorado to promote women and youth in the agriculture industry and to reach a national pageant. “The $500 request will be used to help her travel around Colorado to promote women and youth in the Colorado agriculture industry and to help get her to the national pageant,” Ferrell said.
Commissioners pushed back on funding an individual. One commissioner said funding an individual's pageant travel would set a precedent that could ‘‘snowball’’ and that the county was not the appropriate source for individual sponsorships. Commissioners repeatedly emphasized that the line-item budget for such discretionary requests is limited: Ferrell said the account held a little less than $50,000 at the start of the year and that at $500 per grant that would fund roughly 100 such awards across the year.
The second request referenced a Saint Baldrick's head-shaving fundraising event; Ferrell said the applicant (identified in the packet as Mr. Visselo) requested between $1,000 and $2,000 and that the event’s fundraising revenue goes straight to the charity. The board noted the county had authorized $500 for the event in the prior year and several commissioners said they were comfortable keeping sponsorships ‘‘flat’’ at last year’s level.
The third request came from Bits of Freedom, seeking $1,000 to sponsor a fundraising Kentucky Derby–style party that supports the organization’s therapeutic riding program. Ferrell said last year the board had authorized $500 to the same organization for a different event (a special partners rodeo). Commissioners expressed support for the program’s work — one commissioner described being moved by the organization’s ability to help children with reading through therapeutic riding — but again emphasized limited funds and suggested nonmonetary assistance (such as advertising on county channels) where possible.
No formal roll-call motion or vote allocating the requested amounts appears in the transcript of the work session. Discussion in the meeting indicated informal agreement to keep sponsorship amounts similar to last year (around $500) for these items, and several commissioners volunteered to help with publicity or other nonmonetary support.
Why it matters: This discretionary funding line is finite and used throughout the year for community requests. Commissioners framed decisions around precedent, fiscal limits, and alternate ways the county can support nonprofit fundraising beyond direct cash awards.
The board moved on after the discussion without a recorded formal appropriation vote during the staff update segment.
