The county’s economic development agency survived another attempt Monday to cut its budget.
The Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board discussed the possibility of reducing funding for the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link in favor of adequately funding community festivals.
CVB board member Bernard Buckhalter made a motion to amend the CVB budget for this fiscal year to fund the festivals. Member Whirllie Byrd seconded the motion.
When Board President George Swales said Buckhalter needed to be specific about how to amend the budget, Buckhalter suggested the CVB take $50,000 from the Link’s budget and put that amount into the festival grant budget. Byrd seconded that motion.
The Link made its budget predicated on what the CVB pledged to it, Bart Wise noted.
Changing that three months into the fiscal year would damage both agencies, added Wise, the CVB’s board treasurer.
“We need to honor what we committed to them,” he said.
Wise went on to say the CVB has benefited from $360,000 in money it’s received directly related to the Link’s efforts.
“It’s the golden goose that provides the money for this organization,” he said.
Board Vice President Mark Castleberry said in a choice of residents wanting to pay for a festival or get paid for a job brought to the area by the Link, he would vote for the job.
And so he did, along with seven other board members. Buckhalter cast the lone vote for the budget amendment.
For years the CVB has provided 15 percent of its budget to the Link based on a verbal “understanding.” For its 2011 budget, the CVB cut that amount to 12.3 percent of its budget, which set in motion a nearly yearlong tussle between Columbus and Lowndes County over the CVB board’s authority and membership.
The CVB contributed $49,825.02 to the Link during the first quarter of this fiscal year, according to the Link’s quarterly income statement, which puts the CVB on target to contribute about $199,300 over the year.
Members of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board met Monday in regular session and heard requests for festival grant money.
The board budgeted $100,000 this fiscal year for community festival grants. That’s a decrease of $54,500 over the previous fiscal year.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.