By Khalida Sarwari
A new year means a slew of events to look forward to. Starting this month, Saratoga community event organizers will have a chance to apply for city grants that will help them stage their events over the course of this year.
The Saratoga City Council once again agreed to allocate $20,000 from the General Fund for the community event grant program in next year’s budget. One of the points of discussion at the Dec. 4 council meeting was whether to increase that figure, given that the total grant allocation last year, including funding requests from organizers during the off-cycle, amounted to more than $22,000. The council seemed to be split on whether to allocate more funding or maintain the budget at $20,000, but ultimately decided to discuss the issue further at the upcoming council retreat.
“I certainly would be game to increase it somewhat by $5,000 or something,” Councilwoman Jill Hunter said. “I think we get more tax revenue if we invest a little money into events and keep people entertained. We have to do that these days.”
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Howard Miller said it was best to keep the funding as is because it forces the council to be selective about which events to support. “I think $20,000 kind of worked, and we do have a way to fund more if something really worthy came up,” Miller said.
Councilman Manny Cappello agreed, but made the case for additional funding due to factors such as inflation.
“While I’d like to see an increase, it’s not that I necessarily plan to grant money to additional programs and events, but simply to further support the ones that we’ve done in the past. And I think we’ve got a good mix of those,” Cappello said.
Councilman Chuck Page called for an accounting process where organizers must demonstrate the success of their events based on ticket sales and attendance. “I think that if we’re going to start throwing out numbers, increasing this or that, we better have a total accounting here because I don’t think we have that today,” Page said.
The council also approved a timeline for the application process, which had a date of Jan. 20 for the announcement of the program on the city’s website and in notifications to past applicants; March 4 for the application deadline; and March 19 for the council’s decision.
The community event grant program, a formal funding allocation process that allows organizers to request grant funds for events that are held in Saratoga and are open to the public, was developed in 2012. The process came about after years of the council considering requests for event grants or waiver of city- related fees.
Organizers can use the grant money to cover the cost of event materials, supplies, contract services, permits and city-related fees such as park rental or permit costs. They typically have six to eight weeks to turn in their applications for the council’s consideration and decision. In past years, some event organizers have requested grant funding after the deadline, and in those instances the council has made its decisions on a case-by-case basis.
