Tempers flared as Common Council voted 6-3 in favour of approving a recommendation from the community grants committee.
About $180,000 was allocated in the city’s operating budget for community grants this year and the committee responsible for deciding where that money should go thought it would be beneficial to put $50,000 into a reserve fund to allow more groups to apply for funding before May 1st.
The community grants committee looked at four categories when determining what groups were a priority in terms of receiving funding.
Those categories were financial responsibility, organizational strengths, community and social impact, and whether or not the applicant or group meets council’s priorities.
Mayor Don Darling calls it a difficult talks to determine what groups would received funding.
Darling says the city received $600,000 in funding requests.
The Cherry Brook Zoo and Human Development Council were two groups that received the biggest cut in city funding.
Councillor Gary Sullivan was not happy with council voting in favour of cutting the funding to the Cherry Brook Zoo from $50,000 to $10,000.
Sullivan is a vocal supporter of the Cherry Brook Zoo and says Moncton gave its zoo $876,000 in 2015.
He says the only thing Saint John has done that’s similar to Moncton is increasing councillor’s salaries.
Sullivan says while council is enjoying salary increases the grants for the Cherry Brook Zoo have been cut by 80-percent and the Human Development Council by 60-percent.
Sullivan says if Saint John had a tax rate and policies similar to Moncton the raise for councillor’s might be warranted.
Mayor Don Darling says the Zoo was told a few years ago that the city could not afford to contribute $50,000 on an annual basis.
Darling says any groups that rely solely on community grants are in a “dangerous position”.
Councillors Gary Sullivan, Greg Norton and Ray Strowbridge all voted against the recommendation.
Here’s a list of groups that were approved for city funding:
The city was forced to reject funding requests from 14 groups:
