Budget Committee Approves Non-Profit Requests

The Putnam County Budget Committee allocated on Monday $72,800 to 15 non-profit organizations.

That amount totals $15,500 more than the county allocated to non-profits last year. $12,000 of the increase went to four groups that did not receive funding from the county in fiscal year 2018-2019.

Committee member Jonathan Williams said he couldn’t support the additional $12,000.

“I have a hard time justifying awarding an additional $12,000 to charitable organizations, as good and deserving as they may be,” Williams said “when we have our own county departments that have needs and are now going to be $12,000 without.”

A Non-Profit Committee recommended the funding amount after considering $87,725 in requests.

Chairman Ben Rodgers said the committee used a half cent on the property tax to distribute funds to each organization.

“We gave them a half-cent, so roughly that’s $81,000,” Rodgers said.”They actually came in $9,000 under that.”

The Tennessee Suicide Network and Putnam County Rural Health did not receive any funding from the committee. All other groups received between $1,300 and $10,000.

Committee member Mike Atwood said he supports the committee’s efforts, but would like to see some changes next year.

“I think maybe next year we look at a better system to offer some better direction,” Atwood said. “Every year we have a problem with non-profits, it’s always an issue as to who deserves it and who doesn’t.”

This marked the first year that the county utilized the non-profit committee for funding recommendations. The previous county commission voted to create the committee and commit the half-cent towards non-profit requests.

The Budget Committee on Monday recommended approving the non-profit requests, with committee member Jonathan Williams casting the lone no vote. That recommendation will go before the full county commission.

A full breakdown of the funding approved by the budget committee can be found below.

The Putnam County Budget Committee voted to approve the non-profit committee’s recommended funding distribution Monday. Information shows how the 2019-2020 distribution compares to the previous fiscal year and how much was requested by agency (Graphic: Logan Weaver)