Funding for external agencies stalls at City Council meeting

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Galesburg City Council

Galesburg Aldermen narrowly voted down external agencies’ requests for funding on Monday night leaving the yearly appropriation to many community events and services in doubt.
23 requests totaling $163,000 were made with Administration recommending council approve about $53,000, with 15 of those requests being event-based, with 8 service-based.

Very few agencies were set to get the full amount they requested and plenty got less than they did last year.

Alderman Larry Cox said he doesn’t think it’s a governments’ role to give to non-profit agencies but encouraged citizens and businesses to donate.

This is a debate that has emerged around these funding requests in past years but, usually, there are some minor adjustments to funding totals before the council passes the requests.

On Monday funding proposals for the whole slate were shot down.

Wayne Dennis and Lindsey Hillary didn’t speak but voted no with Cox. Wayne Allen and Peter Schwartzman voted yes. Corine Anderson was absent from the meeting.

With Aldermen Bradley Hix abstaining because of his seat on the United Way Board of Directors the measure was deadlocked.

Schwartzman said he was “stunned by the vote.”

“We have millions of dollars that we spend every month on all kinds of large projects. Now admittedly that money is not suited or geared toward these kinds of projects, ” Schwartzman says. “And the notion that the government should not support local organizations and only private citizens should do so is absurd.”

Mayor John Pritchard said he was surprised but he’s sure there would be more conversation to find a solution.

You can see a list of the list of funding that the administration proposed below.

This story was corrected to reflect that Aldermen Anderson was absent from Monday night’s meeting.

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