Welcome to Tri-Cities Central, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting local happenings in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and surrounding communities.
Get yours: subscribe here. Refer a friend: share this link.
At its June 15 meeting, St. Charles' Committee of the Whole recommended two funding packages: $103,500 split among nine local arts and culture nonprofits, and $700,000 for mental health and social service agencies.
The arts total matched last year's exactly, while mental health funding grew by about $20,000. Either way, the allocations shifted between individual agencies from year to year.
Here's what to know:
A new face in the arts scene: The Visitors Cultural Commission, which distributes a share of the city's hotel/motel tax revenue to local organizations, kept its total at $103,500 for a third straight year. The newcomer is Fox Valley Film Society, recommended for $9,682 in its first year.
Mental health funding grew: The $700,000 mental health funding pool comes from a dedicated property tax voters approved back in 1986. The dollar amount levied has risen by a little over $20,000 this year, but the tax rate itself dropped as the city's overall property values climbed.
TriCity Family Services keeps growing: The nonprofit is recommended for $221,751, up $31,751 from last year and now accounting for roughly a third of the entire mental health pool. It's the largest allocation in the program.
Other agencies saw swings: Funding for the Ecker Center for Mental Health was cut by nearly $25,000 to about $76,000, and Lighthouse Recovery dropped by more than $17,000 to $50,000. Meanwhile, the Association for Individual Development, which received almost $29,000 last year, isn't recommended for any funding for this fiscal year.
A total of 28 agencies applied for mental health funding this year, requesting a combined $852,060, which was more than $150,000 above what the city had budgeted for the program this year.
Read more in this agenda packet.
📖 Thanks for reading
Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with questions or comments.
Not signed up yet? Subscribe here.