LAURIE WEIR
The way in which community grants are doled out has been a hot topic for Smiths Falls Falls councillors.
During a regular meeting of the committee of the whole on Sept. 3, Julia Crowder, manager of economic development and tourism, brought a plan to the table where she sought council’s input on the process, which she will present to the community and partners for further feedback.
A community consultation is scheduled for Sept. 23, she said.
Crowder noted in her report that staff proposed a change to the annual funding allocation to 1.25 per cent to account for inflation, but council decided to maintain the 1% allocation for 2024.
The 2024 Community Grant Program had a budget of $190,000. The November 2023 intake period received 38 applications, but only 31 were eligible for funding. The combined funding request of $293,517 exceeded the budget.
Pervious program intakes received various numbers of application year and not all applications were eligible or approved and the total funding pool covered the full eligible ask of all applications, in addition to leaving additional funding for subsequent requests through the program year. Applications were often submitted by the same organizations annually, Crowder noted.
Council came up with a strategy to allocate some funding for each application based on the budget, Crowder said.
Staff was recently tasked with taking another look at the process, which including looking at a three-stream component, a better definition of minor capital projects, and assuring the application evaluation matrix and scoring supported applications.
“Based on the feedback that we got, staff has included a number of questions or discussion topics that we’re seeking feedback from council on,” Crowder said.
