The Fiscal Court decided to not set aside budget allocations to new nonprofit applicants this year at their March 26 meeting.

Each year, the court hears presentations from local organizations to decide how much money to set aside for them. This year they are only allocating money for nonprofits they have already allocated for in the past. 

In recent meetings, the court has heard presentations or gotten requests from new nonprofits, including Mend the Line, which advocates for first responders’ mental health; Grace Cafe food truck, which helps people experiencing food insecurity; Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Boyle County; the Don’t Sleep backpack program, which has a back to school event each year; and Launch Town, helps mentor new businesses to succeed.

Magistrate Jason Cullen made the motion to not allow any new appropriations than ones they’ve funded in the past. 

“We have a lot of money that’s getting ready to go out this year for various things that we need to spend money on and we don’t have an excess amount of money to keep giving out to different organizations,” Cullen said. “We can’t keep giving to everybody, we have to make sure that they go out and try to raise as much money as possible, and when there’s shortfalls, we can kind of come in and help.”

Magistrates agreed that for things like the backpack program, and other events, the fiscal court could treat events like sponsorships, rather than budget allocations, so as to still fund major events. 

For nonprofits relating to food insecurity and homelessness, the court recently decided to give money to Heart of Kentucky United Way for them to give to nonprofits that send applications. The court will have members on a committee deciding how much money to give, and which nonprofits to give to.

“I’ve had taxpayers tell me that they don’t mind giving by themselves but they hate to see us decide who they give to,” Magistrate Paula Bodner said. “How do you ever say no [to a nonprofit], because a lot of them are good things, but we need to see if they can look elsewhere before they look to us.”

The court also agreed to enforce their application deadline for all nonprofits to submit for allocations.

In other business: 

• The court passed the second reading of Ordinance 920.23 regarding the Historic Overlay District. The ordinance amends articles one, two, four, and seven of the Zoning Ordinance of Boyle County. It will bring the Architectural Heritage Board under the Planning and Zoning Commission instead of the City of Danville. 
• The court approved the Employee Handbook and new wage schedule for the next year.
• The court exempted four agencies from filling out financial disclosure forms. They are the Birthplace of Kentucky committee, the Human Rights Commission, the Homelessness task force and the Animal Care committee. Those four groups do not have a budget or any financial say, and are made up of volunteers.