Monday, February 26, 2007

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Nonprofits seek more funding from city

Star Staff Report

WINCHESTER — Area nonprofit agencies are requesting about $300,000 more in funding from the city for the upcoming year’s budget than they received for this year.

That figure is almost 28 percent higher than the $1.13 million that nonprofit groups such as CLEAN Inc., the Youth Development Center, and Our Health Inc. requested for fiscal year 2008, which starts in July.

At a Winchester Finance and Administration Committee on Wednesday, Finance Director Mary Blowe released that information while talking about budget preparations for the coming year. The data was presented in a packet that the City Council received.

Many of the requests were modest increases.

The Handley Library requested $387,067, which is about a 4 percent increase from the $372,200 that the City Council approved in fiscal 2007.

But other groups had larger-percentage requests.

Northwestern Community Services is asking the city for $183,307 — an increase of almost 36 percent over last year’s $135,000.

The Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging requested three times as much as it got last year from the city — $60,542 for 2008, versus 2007’s $20,000.

And the SPCA of Winchester asked for $181,000 — compared to the $105,000 approved in the 2007 budget.

The City Council will be discussing these requests in the coming weeks.