RAMP board outlines $6.65M budget, says Ogden projects perform well in competitive process

At the April 21 work session, Kevin Burns, RAMP board chair, explained how the countywide Recreation, Arts, Museums and Parks (RAMP) tax is divided and how this year’s $6.65 million budget was allocated across major grants, municipal allocations and easy grants. Burns said RAMP has distributed "just under $79 million" over the life of the program and that this year’s high demand — 189 grant applications — made allocations difficult.

Key details: Burns described the budget split (one‑third to major grants; municipal grants at $1 per resident; an expanded easy grants program) and said easy grants were raised this year from $2,000 to $3,500 to match rising project costs. He explained that applicants are scored and projects with higher matching funds score better. "We fund the applications that score the highest is what gets funded," Burns said in response to a council question about equity across contributing cities.

Council member disclosure: A council member said for the record that their theater company, Good Company Theater, receives RAMP funding; that disclosure was made before the RAMP presentation began.

Process and matches: Burns and Shelley Haly (RAMP director) told the council that the RAMP board typically asks for matches and prefers that matches include private funds as part of the scoring criteria; board members and staff described the process of scoring, assigning liaisons to applicants and working through multi‑year projects.

Next steps: No formal action was taken; the RAMP presentation provided background for council questions ahead of the regular council meeting.