By Karen Kennedy
Every year, approximately 1 percent of the city’s budget typically goes to help local arts organizations with their budgets. Arts organizations are allowed to request up to one-third of their previous years’ income.
Based on these requests, Mayor Jim Brainard presents the City Council with a list of the organizations to receive funding, along with dollar amounts. The total dollar amount before the council for approval is $707,756, and the request list was submitted by the mayor on April 15. Yet since then, the resolution to grant these gifts has been repeatedly tabled at each council meeting, pending “approval of the 2013 budget,” and the organizations continue to wait for their requested funds.
Why?
“These are gifts,” Council Finance Chair Luci Snyder said. “I am not going to give a gift until I know that I have the money to do it.”
Before agreeing to release arts funding, the City Council has been awaiting verification of line item income streams that were included in the 2013 budget as follows:
Utilities Management Fee:
The city’s budget included $406,000 in back payment from last year and $812,000 for this year. Although those payments have not been made, Carmel City Utilities Director John Duffy has made a written confirmation that City Utilities has the funds and intends to make those payments.
Clay Township Fire Contract:
The township and the city share the responsibility for the fire contract. In April, Clay Township made a payment to the city of $1.5 million for services in 2012. Clay Township has allocated $1.1 million in this year’s budget for the fire contract, but that allocation has not been approved by their board and is not scheduled for a vote until September.
CRC:
The city’s 2013 budget also includes an anticipated payment from the CRC in the amount of $1.575 million. This payment is meant to defray the maintenance costs that the city now bears on all the buildings and property that the CRC turned over to the city last year. The council is awaiting confirmation from the CRC that it will be able to make that payment, and a meeting is scheduled for July 24.
During last week’s council meeting, Snyder made a rather unprecedented proposal to release half of the funds proposed for the Carmel Symphony, as Alan Davis, president and CEO of the Symphony has stated that he is not comfortable signing contracts with musicians until the funding is secured. However, that attempt failed, as Council member Eric Seidensticker said that a separate resolution needed to be crafted and signed to do so, and it was not possible to do that after the close of City Hall’s business day. That resolution will be on the agenda for the July 29 council meeting.
“It’s important to remember that this is a gift. Many cities don’t provide for the arts at all. We are fortunate that Carmel does take the arts into consideration in their budget. We are grateful for whatever we receive, whenever we receive it. As an organization, we have to take the bull by the horns and solve our own problems,” said Jim Reilly, Executive Director of the Actors Theatre of Indiana.
Follow Karen on Twitter: @karenkcurrent or email her: [email protected]