Seaside council reviews 2027 nonprofit grant applications, makes tentative funding recommendations

The Seaside City Council spent a meeting reviewing nonprofit applications for the city’s 2027 grant program, assigning priority categories and making tentative funding recommendations to take to the budget committee. Mayor (speaker label: Mayor) and city staff emphasized that final decisions will await the broader budget process but that today’s rankings will guide the April budget committee discussion.

Staff explained the packet provided to councilors included each applicant’s request, last year’s priority and award, and a spreadsheet of comparable metrics designed to help members weigh priorities. “This is just to help you understand kind of what was before you,” the Presenter said, describing the checklist of required materials: a statement of need, explanation of how funds benefit Seaside, how much of the requested funding would be allocated specifically to Seaside, supporting metrics, a spending report for prior grants and an IRS Form 990 (or an explanation if an applicant could not provide one).

Councilors used a simple category system (1–4, where 1 is highest priority) as a straw poll to rank applicants. The meeting produced several tentative recommendations the council said it would forward to the budget committee for formal consideration: CASA received support at a higher priority and a proposed $12,000 recommendation; Community Care Alliance (CCA) was recommended at $50,000; Helping Hands drew support in the mid-to-high range with repeated proposals near $25,000; the South County Food Bank request was recommended at $10,000; North Coast Land Conservancy’s trails and ADA work was kept at a $5,000 request; and the Park and Rec Foundation scholarship program remained in the $3,000–$5,000 range.

Members repeatedly cautioned that several applicants have outstanding documentation that staff will need to verify before the budget committee meets. Staff said they will follow up with applicants on missing spending reports and updated Form 990s where applicable.

On some items the council debated whether grant funding is the right instrument. Several councilors discussed moving long-running, operational items such as David’s Chair (the beach accessibility track-chair program) from an annual grant into the visitors/tourism bureau budget or a contractual arrangement if the city intends a multi-year commitment. “If the intent is to continue to do it, then I think it would make sense for… an agreement for a certain level of service,” a Staff member said.

The council asked staff to return specific follow-up questions to a small set of applicants — notably DeliverLight (staff requested details on where 17 people were housed and which funding paid for that housing) and Harbor’s DSART survivor-support request (staff asked how much of the proposed service would be used by Seaside residents). Staff said the next step is to collect those clarifications and present formal recommendations to the budget committee at the April meeting.

The meeting concluded with members noting the tentative recommendations are advisory; final funding decisions will be made through the regular budget process and after staff has collected requested documents and clarifications.