County: Groups must prove worth
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 19, 2015 1:46 PM
Nonprofit organizations will be challenged under a new county policy to demonstrate why their services are important enough to warrant Wayne County commissioners to help fund them.
That is just one of the tests that nonprofits will face following commissioners' unanimous approval Wednesday of a policy setting forth a laundry list of criteria.
Nonprofits will be asked if they are willing to enter into a written agreement with the county specifying the services to be provided and the evaluation criteria to determine success.
They can expect more demands on, and closer scrutiny of, their financial records, audits and fundraising efforts, and would be required to show how their programs have a direct connection with county-provided services and the county's core mission.
Requests will be considered only during the annual budget process, when nonprofits would have to prove why their services should be financially supported by the county.
Commissioner Joe Daughtery, who has been the most vocal about curtailing -- if not eliminating -- nonprofit funding, made the motion to adopt the policy.
Daughtery said he did not want to make the issue controversial, but that it already is.
"But my concern is that there has been a long history in counties of taxing their citizens, bringing those taxes in and then deciding where these dollars are going to nonprofits that are not the core mission of government," Daughtery said. "At some point where do you draw the line?
"All of these entities are extremely valuable to our community, and it is easy to turn around and criticize the messenger (commissioners). But the bottom line, outlined in this, which states is that (nonprofit) so important that we as an entity tax its citizens, raise taxes, or keep taxes artificially high in order to take those dollars and give them to a nonprofit?"
Other counties are addressing the issue because it has gotten somewhat out of hand, he said.
Commissioner Ray Mayo agreed.
Also, Mayo said, he had been concerned in the past that some of the nonprofit organizations had "tremendous" fund balances, but still asked the county for money.
Under the new policy, County Manager George Wood will make funding recommendations after gathering all of the data required by the policy.
There are hundreds of nonprofit groups in the county doing a "great job" to improve the quality of life here, Wood said.
They are primarily supported by volunteer donations from citizens and businesses, he pointed out. Some receive grants. Others have received grants or in-kind service from the county such as reduced rents, he said.
Still other would like for the county to use tax funds to subsidize their operations, he said.
"It should be clearly stated that any contribution from county government to a nonprofit organization is not a voluntary contribution by our citizens," Wood said. "It is a decision by the board of commissioners to provide financial support, whether individual citizens agree with that or not.
"If someone does not pay their taxes the county is authorized to seize bank accounts and/or sell property to satisfy those taxes. There is nothing voluntary about that."
The first issue surrounding the use of tax dollars to subsidize a nonprofit is a philosophical one, he said.
"Under what conditions would the board of commissioners deem it proper that our citizens financially support a particular nonprofit organization?" Wood said.
To answer that question it appears there should be some criteria in place to evaluate each case, he said.
As economic times become more difficult, funding for nonprofits will come under more scrutiny, he said.
It is human nature to want to preserve the good services the nonprofits provide, Wood said.
"But the county's resources are limited, and we struggle to provide our statutorily required services to the public," he said. "Realistically, you cannot become a backstop for the United Way, which has to limit its own ability to provide resources each campaign year as well.
"There will always be more requests for assistance within the community than there are financial resources to meet them."
A copy of the policy will be included in a letter the county sends out to nonprofits it funds, reminding them they need to put in a request, he said.
Some of the items in the policy are being followed already, Chairman Wayne Aycock said.
"Mr. Wood has talked to several of the nonprofits one on one," he said. "We have talked to several, two of us, with them, and I have talked to some one on one.
"I have really not had a whole lot of kickback once it was explained to them."
Wood said he had not received much negative reaction either and that he believes the agencies realize the commissioners are simply being conservative with taxpayers' money.
"If it was a county program these are a lot of the questions that we would be asking department heads," Wood said.
Commissioner Ed Cromartie questioned the meetings Wood and Aycock mentioned.
Wood said he had received calls asking for the meetings.
Cromartie asked who had been involved in the meetings.
Wood said he had met with officials with the Arts Council, WATCH and WISH.
Cromartie said he was concerned that handling meetings in that fashion left him less knowledgeable about the requests since he is not familiar with some of the nonprofits.
He said he would like to know more about them before voting and that he wondered if that was true for other board members.
Wood said the people he had met with had requested to meet with him and in some cases with Aycock.
Cromartie said he wondered if other agencies were aware they should request a meeting.
Wood said the requests were early and that he thinks the ones that contacted him had been motivated by media coverage of the issue.
Also, Wood said they wanted to make sure he was aware of what they do since he has only been in the county for a year.
If the board so desires, all of the information provided by the agencies will be given to commissioners as well, he said.
Wood suggested if that was the case that commissioners hold work sessions to go over each nonprofit request.