A Pike County supervisor suggested increasing funding for one area nonprofit by dipping into funding of another one to make it possible.
The county has budgeted $177,000 to 12 nonprofits for the 2015-16 budget.
The board has approved $18,000 for the Southwest Mississippi Children’s Advocacy Center — $2,000 less than what the center had requested from the board.
That amount is not enough, supervisor Faye Hodges suggested Thursday.
Hodges said she didn’t have a specific amount of money in mind to add to the center’s allocation, but brought up $5,000 as a possibility.
Hodges said she asked board president Chuck Lambert to check with the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance to see if “they could do with a little less.”
“He’ll talk to Joseph Parker, to see what direction they are heading and actually how much they expect will be spent. Then we’ll see about using some of that funding for the center,” she said after Thursday’s meeting.
Like last year, the board allocated $50,000 to the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance. The amount is the second-highest amount of funding going to area nonprofits, behind $67,200 to the Pike County Economic Development District.
Hodges said advocacy center officials “came to us earlier this year and expressed a desire to have additional money. They cover more than just Pike County. They provide screenings and counseling for children that are abused,” Hodges said.
Supervisors Gary Honea and Luke Brewer said they would consider the change but didn’t support adding funding to the mix.
Hodges said she understood their concern and noted that supervisors have moved funding in the past.
“We’ve done this before. If we take money from one account and put it into another, it’s possible we’ll just add to that account the next year,” she said.
She also said the board should be “more mindful” of the particular agencies in the future.
“We pretty much just approved the total of funding for all agencies. We didn’t really look into the particular agencies. I think we could be more mindful of that in the future, and pay closer attention to what agency needs truly are,” she said.
This is the second time the board has tabled the matter.
