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Council adopts staff’s application-based approach to social-services grants, with follow-up review requested
Summary
Staff recommended and the council accepted a proportional allocation method for $28,000 in social-services funding from 25 applicants requesting about $96,000. Some councilors urged protecting prior-year recipients and asked for a follow-up scrub of the list before final distribution.
Finance director Martha Machar presented a newly designed application-and-review process for the city’s social-services funding. Staff received about 25 applications requesting roughly $96,000; the FY26 budget line is $28,000. Machar explained staff calculated each applicant’s proportional share of the $28,000 based on requested amounts and rounded allocations to whole dollars; two small-business applicants that did not submit required financial statements were excluded from the recommended allocation but remain on the public record.
"We received about 25 applications, interested in the amount to be allocated to them, totaling, 96,000. The amount in the budget is 28," Machar told the council. Several councilors expressed concern the proportional approach diluted funds for long-standing recipients and proposed alternatives such as level-funding prior recipients and using remaining funds for new applicants. One councilor said the list was too large and urged focusing limited dollars where they achieve the greatest impact.
After debate, the council approved a motion to accept the staff recommendation and methodology for the current year but asked staff and two councilors (Tim and Elizabeth) to meet and further review the recipient list before the June 16 fiscal-year deadline. The council recorded at least one dissenting vote on accepting the list as-is; councilor Tim said he would not vote for the list in its current form.
