At Monday night’s meeting of the Independence County Quorum Court, JPs will hear from the county’s recreation committee’s proposed 2021 recreation grants. The proposal will go before the full court for final approval.
At its Oct. 6 meeting, the committee reviewed requests for 2021 recreation grants totaling $253,439.60.
White River Now’s Gary Bridgman breaks down the figures and allocations on the final numbers to be presented.
For 2021, the Sales Tax Recreation Fund is spread far and wide across Independence County.
Thirty-nine different entities involving recreation will receive funding. Twenty-one of the 39, or 54 percent, of the requests received the new general maximum of $3,500.
Three organizations received quite a bit more than the $3,500: the Independence County Shooting Sports Facility; the Independence County Senior Citizens Program; and the Old Independence Regional Museum.
Instead of benefiting a certain locale, these three organizations serve residents across the entire county.
The shooting sports facility receives $85,000, with the senior citizens program getting $22,000 and the museum receiving $9,000.
The funding for those three is about 53 percent of the total funding package.
The county recreation committee makes sure the money that goes into the fund each year — usually between $215,000 to $250,000 — is distributed throughout Independence County to provide some type of recreation.
As you look at the recipients, you see the distribution: Batesville, Bethesda, Charlotte, Cord, Cushman, Desha, Hutchison Mountain, Extension Homemaker groups, Jamestown, Magness, Newark, Oak Bluff, Oil Trough, the Ozark Gateway, Southside, Sulphur Rock, Thida, and on goes the list of areas provided funds for recreation.
And the 2021 budget is almost an image of this year’s funding — the committee spent 1.3 percent more — that’s about $2,800.
The recreation committee has a lot of requests for funding, but if you can’t show the funding will provide recreation, you will have little chance of being funded.
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