Many Naperville organizations looking to tap the city’s newly created Culture Fund will receive more money than expected, while others, although initially recommended for funding, have been deemed ineligible.
The debate over how to allocate more than $2.9 million generated from the city’s 1 percent food and beverage tax continued Monday as City Council members scrutinized the 75 applications for funding.
City staff’s original recommendations for funding involved awarding $1.6 million to various groups, and at the end of a council workshop Monday, the council upped the total grant amount to $1.8 million.
The council also decided not to fund social service agencies because they did not reflect the intentions of the fund. The decision affected Loaves and Fishes, a food pantry that was initially recommended to receive $18,000 and now is slated to get nothing. Naperville CARES was recommended to receive $84,000, but also will receive nothing.
Many organizations that were recommended to receive partial funding were granted the full requested amount by the council.
The council is expected to ratify the allocations at its meeting Tuesday. But a discussion on how to further shape the Culture Fund will continue with another workshop expected by early summer and a public hearing to gather citizens’ comments.