Tough Math

Front page

• School district’s recreation board sees funding requests soar.

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

Try getting this math problem to work: make more than $3 million equal to $1.3 million.

That is the task assigned to Carbon County School District 1 Recreation Board members.

Monday night saw the second half of 36 presentations by organizations requesting grants that originally totaled $3.1 million. According to board Chairman Jon Brown, that figure has been adjusted to about $2.8 million, but the requests still don’t fit into this year’s estimated budget of $1.3 million.

“We’ll be saying no’s or partial no’s to a lot of people,” Brown said. “(The requests) are taking us by storm.”

Many of the largest grant requests are for new or relatively new projects, such as $300,000 for a new beef barn at the Carbon County Fairgrounds in Rawlins. The Little Snake River Valley Community Center project originally hoped to get $750,000 from the board, but has since adjusted its request to $300,000. Rochelle Ranch Golf Course managers came before the board with a request for just above $500,000.

“If you take away these new projects,” Brown said, “then these requests would line up with previous years.” The 2007 budget was about the same as this year, but requests totaled just below $2 million.

Though there is no hard-and-fast criteria for selecting the board’s beneficiaries, Brown did outline some areas members look at closely.

“We look at their bang for the buck,” he said. “How many people do they affect?”
Also, projects that are consistently funded by the board are considered sooner.

An organization’s ability to do fundraising on it’s own is also important. The recreation board tries to encourage the understanding, particularly among kids that benefit, that nothing comes for free.

Groups doing bake sales or picking up trash for money are more favorably considered by the board. Likewise, adult organizations that can find companies to match grant money often have better chances.

Brown said grant applications need to be well defined. With so many cuts to be made, the board members want to know how the money will be spent. Successful grants often depend on whether board members get direct answers to their questions and clearly understand the organization’s intentions.

On May 12, the recreation board makes its final deliberations and announces its 2008-09 beneficiaries.