Finance committee trims nonprofit requests and sets one-time allocations from 4% donations pot

The McMinnville Finance Committee reviewed requests from local nonprofits and recommended a set of annual dues and one-time awards from a fund equal to 4% of estimated property-tax revenue, staff said.

Samantha (finance staff) told the committee the donations pot was about $230,843 and that routine annual dues or membership commitments total roughly $83,005.49, leaving approximately $148,794 for one-time awards. She read the committee’s recommended one-time and annual allocations during the meeting and asked members whether they wanted to adjust amounts on any individual requests.

After discussion about fairness and whether to apply a uniform percentage cut across all applicants, the committee recommended these allocations (amounts read in committee and forwarded to the full board): Black History Museum $5,000; Chamber of Commerce $40,000; Families in Crisis $5,000; HOME (name in packet) $7,000; Library (one-time) $22,000; Main Street McMinnville $35,000; Rescue Squad $7,425; Senior Center $25,000; Young Men United $5,000. Committee members also directed $1,000 be allocated to the Emergency Food Bank to keep the total close to the available pot. Staff noted Meals on Wheels did submit a request but committee members expressed concerns and did not include it among the recommended awards, per comments recorded in the meeting.

Committee members discussed special circumstances — for example, a recent external donation to the Rescue Squad — and whether to treat recurring dues and one-time project requests differently. Samantha cautioned a pure percentage cut could reward groups that increased their requests.

The allocations were approved by voice vote in committee and will be forwarded to the full board for final action.

Ending: Staff said a full list of applications and the slides used in the committee presentation would be circulated to members for review before the full-board meeting.