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Hampton staff offers three options to expand outside-agency funding; council to decide by month’s end if it will accept new applications
Summary
Budget Manager Lori Green outlined three options — a competitive general fund, allocations by strategic priority, or outcome‑sourcing tied to the strategic plan — for allowing additional outside agencies to seek city funding; staff said a timeline requires council direction by the end of the month for FY26 applications.
Budget Manager Lori Green presented Hampton City Council with three possible approaches to revising the city's outside‑agency funding policy, which since 2008 has limited funding largely to agencies with a governmental nexus.
Green said the historical program allowed both established and newly emergent agencies to apply, with new agencies subject to multi‑year caps. "The only new agency that has been added in recent years is one that is connected to the city's governmental mission," she said, citing the Peninsula Alcohol Safety Action Program as the FY22 addition. She told council that staff frequently receives inquiries from nonprofits asking whether the city's process is open.
Green laid out three options: (1) a general competitive funding source that could be awarded during the fiscal year to eligible organizations; (2) allocating funds for each strategic priority area to ensure consistent attention across priorities; and (3) outcome‑sourcing, a longer‑term approach that would tie awards to specific, strategic outcomes once the strategic plan is complete. She flagged tradeoffs for each approach, including flexibility versus equity across priorities and the need for additional staff time and procurement work under option 3.
Staff and council contrasted outside‑agency allocations (steady funding for services the city would otherwise provide) with grant pots used to advance time‑limited priorities. The manager's office cited prior use of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to create competitive grants addressing gun‑violence prevention and other targeted needs; those grants were run separately from the outside‑agency process.
Vice Mayor Gray urged reconsideration of the 2008 policy, saying new issues and organizations have emerged since then. "There are new problems, new issues that have emerged since then," Gray said, pointing to pandemic-era service needs and an increase in assaults during COVID as reasons to consider opening the process. Council members asked whether currently funded agencies are re-evaluated annually and whether funding is effectively level-funded; staff said existing agencies typically resubmit applications and are evaluated on whether they continue to meet service criteria.
Staff told council they do not need an immediate decision but that, if council wants to open the outside‑agency process for FY26, applications must be received in November–December for January evaluation and February budget ranking. Staff offered to schedule follow-up discussion at the next meeting to refine direction.
