I want to dispel some rumors and misinformation circulating regarding some changes that have taken place in county government. The senior citizens and the veteran van subsidy have not been “zeroed” out and defunded. The grant dollars for both funds were simply reallocated as direct subsidy dollars in a new grant line called, “Special Group Contributions.” The senior citizens and the veteran’s van subsidy were granted 100% of the monies they requested.
All direct and indirect subsidies to nonprofits have been reallocated to one line item so that taxpayers can easily view where the money is going. It does not mean we have cut funding to any nonprofit.
Some are also saying that my office and the court have somehow cut funding to the Marshall County Exceptional Center. This is patently false. The court wasn’t funding the Exceptional Center in the first place. My office did take care of their payroll. However, the Center’s board voted to privatize that service when the court voted to adjust the county payroll date. The Center also voted to take their employees off county benefits and healthcare based on the concern that they would lose Medicaid funding. This was a decision the Center board came to on their own. It should also be noted that the Exceptional Center was eligible for grant monies for the 17/18 fiscal year but did not fill out an application.
Nonprofits serve a very important role in Marshall County with one of the most important roles being improving quality of life. In the past, people have depended on government programs to care for the many needs of our senior citizens, disabled veterans, physically/mentally challenged individuals and undernourished children, just to name a few.
As judge/executive and as a private citizen, I feel it’s imperative that our nonprofits remain financially stable. That’s why I felt compelled to address the misunderstandings about the way the fiscal court allocates requested grant monies to nonprofits.
I made the decision to start a grant application process. It was intimidating to some of our nonprofit board members in the beginning because some mistakenly believed it was implemented to strip them of grant monies. That was a far cry from the truth as I mentioned above. It really was about accountability to the taxpayer and knowing where our funds are going each fiscal year. Auditors are also much easier to deal with when we have the proper documentation.
I want to be very clear that nonprofit monies for the 17/18 fiscal year have not decreased. In fact, we increased the direct subsidy overall from 158,000 dollars to 205,000 dollars. As I mentioned, myself and the court believe our nonprofits to be vitally important to our community. Many of our nonprofits filled out an application and others did not.
The veteran van subsidy is now managed by the Marshall County Veterans Support Group directly. Let me be clear that every veteran organization in this county has a seat at the table. If they need something, they know my door is always open. I know I can say the same for our commissioners.
Thanks for taking the time read this post. If you have questions regarding this issue or any other, please call my office or send me an email. Myself or one of my staff will get back to you as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Kevin Neal
Marshall County Judge-Executive