Waterford Cuts Funding To Organizations Who Don’t Take It

Thursday, a Waterford committee agreed to give no tax dollars to two non-profit organizations after they never picked up the money the town gave them last year.

Thursday, the Social Service Grant Committee, a group that oversees local taxpayer donations to a variety of non-profit organizations, approved an $88,410 budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year. That represents a $3,734 decrease from this year’s $92,144 total.

The main reason was the town did not fund organizations that did not collect the money they were given last year or didn't request money this year, First Selectman Dan Steward said. Steward said he sees no point in giving organizations money if they don’t even take the time to collect it.

“It means they are not well managed by any means,” Steward said.

This year, the town authorized $2,000 to the Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency Inc, $1,700 to the Community Heath Center and $1,800 to the Child and Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut. The committee proposed giving no money to those organizations for the 2013-14 fiscal year because they either never came to collect the money the town gave them in the 2011-12 fiscal year or, in the case of the Community Heath Center, didn’t request money for this year, Steward said.

He said the amount of money the town gives these organizations is small compared to their actual budgets. The reason they ask for money is because the more municipalities they get donations from, the better chance they have of getting state and federal grants, which pays for the majority of their operations, Steward said.

Steward said he supports these organizations, but said he was not happy when they didn’t collect the money they were given, regardless of how small of an amount it was. The committee agreed to give all the other organizations the same amount as last year, with the exception of Southeastern Area Transit (SEAT), which had a $1,757 increase. The town is statutorily-obligated to pay SEAT’s assessment.

Proposed Budget

The following is the proposed $88,401 budget by the Social Service Grants Committee:

TVCCA: $4,280

Safe Futures Inc: $6,500

United Community and Family Services: $7,200

New London County Association for Retarded Citizens: $1,800

Historic Properties Commission: $400

Municipal Historian: $800

Disabled American Veterans: $250

VFW: $1,350

Waterford Shellfish Commission: $4,056

Waterford/East Lyme Shellfish Commission: $2,500

SEAT: $45,681

Eastern Connecticut Conservation District Inc: $600

Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments: $10,734

New London Homeless Hospitality Center: $2,250