Five years after the city of Park Ridge made its final financial contribution to nonprofit community organizations, a candidate for mayor has suggested that elected officials consider resuming the practice.
During a Feb. 22 Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce debate, mayoral candidates Lucas Fuksa and acting Mayor Marty Maloney were asked if the city should resume its financial “partnerships” with community, cultural and social service organizations.
Fuksa indicated he was open to the idea.
“I’m fiscally conservative myself, but I think we can at least consider it,” he said, suggesting that the city could “take applications for it, have a program established for it and [also] promote the public to contribute to these organizations. There’s a lot of them that actually do good things.”
For years, the city earmarked money in its annual budget for about a dozen nonprofit organizations that applied for funding. In 2010, mayor David Schmidt vetoed the City Council’s approval of a motion to distribute $190,080 among 13 community groups ranging from the Park Ridge Fine Arts Society to Rainbow Hospice.
In the end, aldermen upheld the veto for 10 organizations, but voted to provide about $68,000 in funding to three recipients: Center of Concern, Meals on Wheels and Maine Center. Center of Concern received the bulk of the funding.
By 2012, funding to these three groups was eliminated from the city’s budget as well, largely at the urging of Schmidt, who said taxpayer money should not be used to support nonmunicipal services.
During the Chamber of Commerce debate, Maloney voiced a similar opinion.
“I don’t believe we should be funding private, community groups,” he said, calling the ones supported by the city in the past “all outstanding groups.” “Everyone in this room knows where they want to send their charitable donations. The city should not be sending charitable donations using tax dollars on your behalf.”
Maloney added that the City Council last year agreed to Police Chief Frank Kaminski’s request to increase the department’s social worker position from part-time to full-time in order to better address some of the mental health issues in the community. Prior to its closure in 2015, Maine Center had provided mental health resources to residents.
Fuksa accused his opponent of having “defunded pretty much all” the programs the city once supported. Maloney replied that the 2010 cuts occurred before he was elected alderman, but did say he voted against contributions in 2012 to the last remaining organizations that were receiving funds: Center of Concern, Meals on Wheels and Maine Center.
After funding was cut to most of the organizations that had previously received it, the city briefly created an opportunity for residents to donate to local cultural arts groups through the purchase of a special city sticker, and, since 2011, elected officials have hosted a barbecue to raise money for the Park Ridge Fine Arts Society, which brings orchestral concerts to Hodges Park in the summer.
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
