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Commission approves 2026 community support funds, redirects $100,000 in opioid dollars to social services
Summary
The commission approved the Community Support Funds Advisory Board's 2026 recommendations, keeping the special alcohol and social services budgets flat while adding $100,000 from opioid funds to social services; commissioners discussed adopting a formal scoring matrix for future allocations.
The Manhattan City Commission voted 5-0 to adopt the Community Support Funds Advisory Board's recommendations for 2026, authorizing the city manager to execute grant agreements with the recommended nonprofit recipients.
City staff member Jared presented the board's process and findings, saying the board received 15 applications for special alcohol funds and 21 for social services. "We received 15 applications for special alcohol funds...that is 3 less than we provided funding to agencies last year," Jared said, and noted the special-alcohol budget remained at $550,000 while requests totaled about $634,000. He added the social services requests exceeded available funds by roughly $645,000. Jared also told commissioners the board will require applicants to attend a five-minute interview in future cycles.
Commissioners discussed process changes and requested more systematic scoring. "We discussed developing a matrix for the four categories of importance," Lisa Sisley, vice chair of the advisory board, said; she described classifying requests as critical, important, desirable or do-not-fund and urged putting those definitions to paper. Several commissioners said a points-based formula could make allocations more consistent.
The commission also approved inserting $100,000 from opioid-settlement funds into the social services pot for 2026 to reduce pressure on the general fund. Jared explained the opioid dollars come with guidance similar to special alcohol funds and will be distributed alongside the social services allocations. The motion to approve the board's recommendations and authorize the city manager to sign the 2026 grant agreements passed 5-0.
The packet contains links to each applicant's full application and the board's scoring spreadsheets for commissioners and members of the public who want more detail.
