The Cole County Commission made it known to nonprofit agencies last year they may not get money from the county in 2017.
In the $78 million budget for 2017, which the commission approved last week, only two nonprofits that received county funding in 2016 got it this year - trimming roughly $50,000 from planned county spending.
That savings is offset by new expenditures in the total budget for 2017 that rose from $75 million - including cost-of-living raises for employees and new employees in the sheriff's department and ambulance service.
For many years, the commission approved funds through contracts for not-for-profit agencies that provide county health and welfare programs. State law allows for the contracts, and the county has done so since 1909.
Any agency may ask to make a presentation to the three-member commission, which then reviews the proposed contracts during budget time. However, county officials said no agencies requested to make a presentation for 2017.
Notices went out with the 2016 donations, letting these groups know it was possible funding may not come in 2017. No such notices were sent out this year because the commission decided not to put that money they had in the past in the budget for this year.
The groups that received county funding in 2016 included: Homemaker Health Care, $7,500; ABLE Learning Center, $3,500; Cole County Senior Nutrition Program, $10,000; River City Habitat for Humanity, $10,000; Art Inside the Park/Atelier, $5,000; Cole County Historical Society, $7,000; Jefferson City Area CrimeStoppers, $2,000; Downtown Jefferson City's Thursday Night Live, $2,500; and the Cole County Soil & Water Conservation District, $5,000.
"We knew that we wouldn't get the money this year, so it didn't come as a surprise to us," said Susan Cook-Williams, River City Habitat for Humanity executive director. "We didn't put in our budget this year, and we'll try to make it up in other ways."
The Cole County Soil & Water Conservation District did receive $5,000 for 2017, the same level of county funding as in 2016.
Also, the Jefferson City Area CrimeStoppers received $2,000, the same as in 2016. That money will come out of the county's Law Enforcement Fund.
The commission also budgeted $5,000 for Salute to America, down from the $10,000 the local Independence Day festival received in 2016. This money will come out of the commission's funds for economic development activities, which would include money the county gives the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce for economic development work.
Commissioners have said the cuts to nonprofit contracts were made purely because of budget matters, although there was no specific reasons given. Commissioners also cited a strong belief it wasn't the government's role to use tax dollars to fund these groups.