Budget requests have been pouring in to the town from different non-profits across Collingwood, but with limited funds to go around, council will have some tough decisions ahead about which ones they’ll be supporting with dollars.
In total, under the first draft of the 2024 budget, staff has suggested council allot $100,000 total for all non-profit grants. The town is currently fielding requests from four groups for funding to be addressed through the budget: the Collingwood Climate Action Team, the Georgian Triangle Humane Society, the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay and the Georgian Bay Accelerator.
Mayor Yvonne Hamlin asked town treasurer Monica Quinlan at their Oct. 16 meeting whether she had totalled up all the requests the town has been presented with for the 2024 budget. Quinlan said the requests are coming in at between $60,000 and $70,000 more than in past years.
“I think what we need to really do is come up with an application process with a time frame. We don’t have that in place now but it’s something I’d like to bring forward in 2024,” said Quinlan.
Earlier in October, the Collingwood Climate Action Team came before councillors to ask for $32,000 this year for their efforts.
The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay has also put in a request for $10,000 for 2024.
During the Oct. 16 committee of the whole meeting, Georgian Triangle Humane Society’s executive director Sonya Reichel deputed to council requesting $31,500 per year for 10 years to go toward a capital fundraising campaign for the GTHS Regional Centre for Pets and People.
The planned 19,200-square-foot facility will be located on five acres. and will be built at 135 Sandford Fleming Dr. Current cost estimates for the facility come in at $14 million.
The facility will include outdoor pet memorial gardens, dog enrichment parks, walking trails, an outdoor education centre and a fully-accredited companion animal hospital.
The GTHS will be requesting funding from all the municipalities it serves for the new facility, which includes Collingwood, Clearview, Wasaga Beach, Meaford, Grey Highlands and the Town of the Blue Mountains.
Individual requests of the municipalities were calculated based on population. The request of all the municipalities combined will total $1,500,000 over 10 years.
Also during the Oct. 16 meeting, Georgian Bay Innovation and Technology Accelerator Program executive director Peter Heinke gave a presentation asking council for funds through the 2024 budget to the tune of $200,000 over 18 months.
The Georgian Bay Innovation and Technology Accelerator is a non-profit organization with a mission to help businesses within the community grow through technology. The organization selects between eight and 10 businesses annually to run through an intensive four-week program that can help them grow with the help of mentors. They also run workshops on areas of specialized interest.
The Town of Collingwood provided $350,000 in funding to the accelerator in 2021 and 2022, but has not provided further funding to the program since.
The accelerator will also be putting in funding requests to the other municipalities it serves, such as Wasaga Beach, Meaford and the Town of the Blue Mountains.
During discussions, Quinlan noted that typically a request will also come from Collingwood Pride for their annual festivities, but a request hasn’t yet come in for 2024 from that group. In 2023, Collingwood council supported a $10,000 cash donation to the festival with another $10,000 donation of in-kind services.
For this year’s budget exercise, town staff divided the budget into four priorities. All items marked in a first priority group are considered extremely urgent and are included in the base two-per-cent increase budget.
Council is also considering three other groups of items: the second priority is considered urgent, the third group is considered important and the fourth priority group is considered important but could be deferred to a future budget year.
The $100,000 for grant requests is in the priority-three group.
At the end of discussion at their Oct. 16 meeting, councillors voted in favour of carrying the $100,000 community grant items through to the next draft of the 2024 budget for discussion.
