MAYVILLE - Maria Kindberg wants legislators to fully understand the "free money" grants they're regularly faced with.
Several such grants were considered by the County Legislature on Wednesday. The grants varied in amount and purpose, from funding counseling to child victims of crime and reducing violent crimes to funding the purchase of a HazMat ID Command System.
"I have certainly, over the years, voted in favor of many of these, as I'm sure several of us have," Kindberg said Wednesday. "But since we're in extraordinary times right now, I think it would behoove us to know what the end cost is going to be."
Specifically, Kindberg,D- Jamestown, said the legislature should know the "true costs" of such grants - meaning whether they cost the county matching funds or in kind services.
The "extraordinary times," she explained, is the $18 million deficit expected next year.
In recent months, a grant to purchase a new boat for the Sheriff's Office caused some disagreement between legislators. Those opposed to accepting the federal grant money questioned the "down-the-road" costs of staffing and operating the boat. Voted down in June, the issue was again brought up in July - ultimately approved in a 15 to 9 vote.
"Many of (the grants) say that it's going to be in-kind services or the grants are going to be matched in various ways," Kindberg Wednesday said of the commitment such grants require. "But even in-kind services result in a cost to the county."
The several grant acceptance resolutions passed the legislature. To read the resolutions in detail, view the pdf document attached with this story online at www.post-journal.com.
