GVAC Plays Grinch With Groups

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Friday, 20 December 2013 06:01
Greater Vernon Advisory Committee directors were not in a very giving mood as they held a special meeting to discuss the budget. Various community groups were seeking 40-thousand dollars in funding, but for the most part, were unsuccessful. GVAC chair Mike MacNabb says other than a bit more for the museum, Boys and Girls Club, and arts council, no increases were provided. "Yes we think there's still merit here, but we can't afford to just keep giving large increases, and some of them in the last couple years, have been 15 or 20 percent," says MacNabb. The art gallery, Teen Junction, Okanagan Science Centre, and Gallery Vertigo were among the groups denied increases. Macnabb says a planned review of arts and culture next year will set priorities. "One of the things we're going to do with this review is look at it and say, 'What will we fund, how will we do it, and what's it going to look like going forward?'" adds MacNabb.
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EDITORIAL: Public dollars in limited supply
by Editorial - Vernon Morning Star posted Dec 20, 2013 at 1:00 AM
There will be sad faces at some cultural and youth organizations. On Thursday, the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee shelved some big-budget asks from community groups and largely decided to hold the line on financial assistance. “We have to be responsible in funding all phases of services to taxpayers,” said director Rob Sawatzky, pointing out that local governments face significant challenges and are trying to ease the burden facing taxpayers. As an example, the City of Vernon is moving towards a 2014 tax hike of 1.8 per cent for operations (and a further 1.9 per cent for infrastructure). Now no one around the GVAC table dismisses the importance of the cultural and youth groups. They provide services that add to our quality of life and without their involvement, local government would have to provide these programs at a higher cost. However, everyone who accesses tax dollars must understand that the economy remains challenging and some residents have lost their jobs or have had wages frozen. Essentials, such as food and electricity, continue to cost more. Organizations have to be concerned about the perception of asking for too much. As an example, the Vernon Public Art Gallery was seeking a 3.6 per cent hike to its 2014 operating grant at the same time that it’s lobbying the public to spend millions of dollars on a new facility. Ultimately, there has to be an acknowledgement by residents and politicians of the vital work cultural agencies do, especially as these groups’ costs also rise. However, the reality is that taxpayers can’t be everything to everyone.
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Don Quixote Note: The Requests, recommendations  and past history of grants to the Community Groups (8) can be found at:
http://www.rdno.ca/agendas/131219_gvac_agn_spec.pdf   (P.12-19)