City hall hopes that hiring someone to search for grant funding to support various projects will be a successful move that contributes to reducing an expected budget deficit next year.
During its 2024 budget meeting on Dec. 13, city council voted 6-1 to have city administration hire a grant writer and partnership co-ordinator that would be funded from capital projects that benefit from this position. Furthermore, council mandated that the position generate $1 million annually in additional funding from grants, sponsorships and partnerships.
Coun. Dawn Luhning was opposed.
This was one of eight motions council approved to help reduce the capital reserve’s $8.9 million deficit.
City administration told council during a previous meeting that directors had not done a good job of finding financial sponsorships and partnerships over the years, as they had been performing those tasks off the corner of their desks rather than focusing directly on it.
Administration also said that while finding large grants is important, bringing in smaller ones — $25,000 or $100,000 — is also vital.
Council discussion
It is a great idea to hire someone specifically to look for grant funding because directors are too busy maintaining current programs and infrastructure to look themselves, said Mayor Clive Tolley.
He also liked how the position would create some much-needed extra capital revenues and the person would pay his or her own salary from that money.
City manager Maryse Carmichael said nothing has been finalized yet in terms of the department in which the person would work or how the salary would look. Yet, she knew that since the person would support every department, he or she would likely serve in her office so she could oversee and prioritize the work.
Meanwhile, the $1 million figure is an estimate that city administration developed after reviewing all possible available grants.
“It’s a bit conservative. Certainly … we don’t want to set expectations too high in the first year,” she said.
Carmichael added that this person would hopefully start in the new year, while city administration would provide council with regular reports of the grants acquired.
Coun. Crystal Froese agreed, saying the municipality has been leaving plenty of money behind and missing out on many funding opportunities. Moreover, grant writing is a specialty that requires someone dedicated and knowledgeable.
Luhning expressed concern about the motion because she didn’t think it accurately reflected council’s intent of paying for this position using money generated from grant acquisitions.
Finance director Brian Acker explained that the motion was worded as is because there would be no initial grant funding to pay for the position, which means the startup money must come from somewhere — hence, the capital projects budget. Also, whatever future grants the person acquired would be refunded back to that account.
“So that clarifies it even further for me, that we’re actually going to fund this person ahead of time,” said Luhning. “(In) some of those contracts, there’s that incentive that they get the grant money (and) then they get paid when the money comes in … . That’s kind of how I was hoping this would work.”
City administration is open to that and had envisioned that an existing employee could take on the role because that would be money better spent, said Acker. Moreover, an existing employee would receive a better rate than having to pay someone a commission.
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