Correction: Keep North Little Rock Beautiful is budgeted to receive $5,000 in 2014 from the city of North Little Rock. This article gave an incorrect amount.
Citing "major budgetary changes" for North Little Rock in 2015, Mayor Joe Smith has put nonprofits on notice to expect their annual city funding to be reduced or even cut out completely.
"There is a strong possibility that we will be reducing or eliminating the funds for services we provide to nonprofit organizations in 2015 as well as other budget tightening measures," Smith wrote in his letter sent the week of June 16 to 16 nonprofit organizations in North Little Rock, according to a list provided by the mayor's office.
The notice added that "we recommend that you begin to review your own budget in light of the city's inability to fund your organization at the same level as in 2014." Funding for the nonprofits for 2014 comes from the general fund's $7.2 million Special Appropriations fund.
To balance this year's $60.1 million general fund budget, North Little Rock transferred $1.15 million from its Fund Balance, or unrestricted cash reserve. Smith cited in his letter that the city "cannot continue to balance the budget from the Fund Balance" and must look for additional ways to balance the budget.
The letter also said nonprofits may still apply by Aug. 1 to receive city funding. During the past two budget cycles, the City Council has added requirements for nonprofits that receive city funds to provide annual reports to the city, including financial and tax records and a list of board members.
It won't be until final budget preparations in the fall, Smith said in an interview last week, that a decision will be made as to which groups will see their funding reduced, and by what amounts.
Smith added that he wanted to give notice so groups could start making adjustments. In a few cases, part of those city funds go toward an organization's salaries.
"All of these nonprofits that provide a service for our community are small, and the money we contract with them is a large part of their budgets," Smith said. "I didn't want to wait until November or December because I could see the writing on the wall that we would not be able to fund near as much as we could in the past.
"I've served on many of their boards and I wanted all of them to have plenty of time to know that our contribution for 2015 is either going to be eliminated completely or be drastically cut," he added.
The biggest recipients of city funding on the mailing list are the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, $175,000; the Argenta Downtown Council, $95,000; Art Connection, $85,000; the North Little Rock Boys and Girls Club, $50,000; Thea Foundation, $48,000; the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, $45,000; and the Arkansas Arts Center, $40,000.
Seven of the nine remaining groups receive between $5,000 and $25,000. Those are the Police Athletic League, $25,000; Seis Puentes, $25,000; the North Little Rock City Beautiful Commission, $20,000; NLR-TV, $20,000; Keep North Little Rock Beautiful, $20,000; Arkansas Symphony, $5,000; and the North Little Rock Community Concert Band, $5,000.
The two other groups receiving letters -- Reaching Our Children And Neighborhoods (ROCAN) and Argenta Community Theater -- aren't budgeted to receive any funds in 2014, according to city Finance Director Karen Scott.
Funding for the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, home of the World War II-era Razorback submarine, had already been planned to be reduced by $25,000 per year over the next five years. Smith said his current plan is to stick with that.
The maritime museum "didn't really qualify for a letter" because of that, Smith said, but he added that he wanted all nonprofits to be made aware of the budget situation.
Greg Zonner, the maritime museum's director, said he was relieved that the cutback is expected to remain at the planned $25,000 and that the museum on the downtown riverfront wasn't losing all of its city funds.
"We should be all right," Zonner said. "It is what it is. You've just got to deal with it."
"There would be no way the [museum] board can come up with that much money in one year," Zonner said, if the entire $175,000 budgeted for 2014 were eliminated for next year.
The Police Athletic League, overseen by North Little Rock police officers to provide opportunities for youths to participate in sports and other activities for free, is budgeted for $25,000 this year.
However, the league's biggest fundraiser is a Halloween Haunted House that will return this year at a new site after a year's absence, said Sgt. Brian Dedrick, spokesman for the North Little Rock Police Department.
"There are no plans whatsoever that this will affect PAL," Dedrick said of the proposed reductions. "PAL's very important to us working with the kids. I think the main reason for that funding was [not having] the haunted house. That will be back up and running this year."
Cindy Doramus, chief executive officer for Boys and Girls Club of Central Arkansas, said that while she is "sympathetic" to the city's financial hardship, any reduction to its $50,000 in funds would have an effect on programs provided at its three North Little Rock locations. Memberships are $30 per school year.
North Little Rock had more than 1,500 registered members last year, she said.
"Our membership does continue to grow," Doramus said. "The members we have are the people who need us. As times get hard, our memberships grow. Anytime you lose funding, the bad part is it does affect children.
"The quality of service is relative to the appropriation of money," she added. "The tough part is it will impact the youth of North Little Rock.
Those funds are a good investment in the North Little Rock community."
Seis Puentes, a Hispanic community outreach organization in the Levy area, was also among those cautioned about probable cutbacks. The program reaches "upwards of 400 students" some months, said Vincent Insalaco, chairman of the Seis Puentes board of directors.
"It will affect us dramatically, but I was glad he gave us this warning so we can make other arrangements," Insalaco said. "Everybody has got to tighten their belts sometimes and work through it. We'll make it work one way or the other."
Thea Foundation Executive Director Paul Leopoulos said he will take any cutback from the city's $4,000 per month in stride.
"We absolutely are loyal and appreciative of everything the city's done for us," Leopoulos said. "Of course we'll be impacted if there's a decrease, whether it's a partial or full decrease of what they have allotted for us in the past. But that's sort of life. We don't begrudge it at all.
"I'm a taxpayer and citizen of North Little Rock, and I want the best for the city," he added. "If it means we have less at Thea, I trust those people [on the City Council] and I trust their decision, period."
Metro on 06/30/2014