HOLMES BEACH – In what’s proved to be a controversial decision, commissioners voted to deny The Center of Anna Maria Island a financial contribution from the city.
The decision was a split one with Commissioners Carol Soustek and Terry Schaefer voting to give The Center an already-budgeted financial contribution of $22,500 and Commissioners Jim Kihm, Jayne Christenson and Kim Rash voting against the donation.
Before the vote took place during the May 11 meeting, Schaefer reminded his fellow commissioners that they had previously decided to donate $5,000 to the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce’s passport program from the approved budget line for charitable contributions, leaving $17,500 in the budget. City Treasurer Lori Hill suggested taking $5,000 from the mayor and commission discretionary fund, which has about $40,000 left in it for the 2020-21 fiscal year after other planned expenditures. She said the city has been contributing at least $22,500 annually to The Center since 1998.
The city of Anna Maria provided The Center with $25,000 in 2020. The city of Bradenton Beach provided The Center with no funds in 2020 and $5,000 in 2019.
Manatee County Commissioner and former Holmes Beach Mayor Carol Whitmore said in an email to The Sun that when she left the position of mayor in 2006, the city was donating $30,000 per year to The Center.
Currently, the nonprofit is working to fill the $100,000 budget gap created by pandemic shutdowns and canceled events.
Christenson said that while she personally supports The Center, she’s not sure that taxpayer dollars should be given to one nonprofit. She added that while she understands the donation to The Center from the city was in the approved budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, she feels that the city’s responsibility is to use taxpayer funds to make the city better for its residents and property owners. She said the city’s taxpayer base should personally choose which organizations they want to donate to. Christenson was not on the city commission when the budget for this fiscal year was approved.
Rash said he had heard concerns from some city residents about city funding of a nonprofit, leading to his vote against releasing the funding.
Kihm said that while he feels that The Center is a worthy organization, he too feels that taxpayers should decide where they want their dollars donated and then donate personally.
“I am extremely disappointed,” Mayor Judy Titsworth said. “I think this is a punch in the gut and it’s very disappointing if it doesn’t go through.” She said The Center is a huge benefit to the Island and the effort to bring families back to the three Island cities.
Soustek said she was not going to vote against giving a donation that had already been approved by a majority of commissioners during the budget process. She added that if commissioners want to change future donations it should be addressed during the budget process.
“If we make a commitment, we should stand by it,” Schaefer said.
After a plea from the mayor, Kihm said he would put funding for The Center on a future agenda for more discussion.
The decision to not fund The Center was unpopular with some Holmes Beach residents.
“I am appalled that this year, in the midst of a global pandemic, when more than ever we need to support The Center, commissioners would vote to strip promised funding,” Holmes Beach resident Christine Shuck wrote to commissioners in a letter to the editor. “I was under the impression that the job of the commissioner was to try to better the community. In fact, that was what many of you campaigned on.
“I find it extremely concerning that not only are you failing to deliver already-promised funding, but you are also failing to fulfill the campaign promises on which you all ran,” her letter continued.
“Without this vital venue, the few families who can afford to live here will no longer have a reason to come live in Anna Maria. If we are going to have to drive off the Island for all our kids’ sports and camps, then what is the point of living here?” resident Mary Catherine Melancon asked in her letter.
“That our Center, truly AMI’s only recreation department, has to beg for dollars from each city is a sad statement of what our tax dollars are doing,” residents James and Lee McParland wrote in their letter to the editor.
In the recreation and open space element of the city’s comprehensive plan, the document which is intended to guide the future of Holmes Beach, it states that in the calculating of the level of parks, open space and outdoor facilities for residents, that city leaders will take into consideration “the city’s contribution to the continued operation of the Anna Maria Island Community Center and the recreational services it provides.”
“I will continue to encourage our citizens of Holmes Beach and visitors to be involved in our community but to respect a person’s right to choose the organization(s) they wish to give a charitable donation to,” Christenson said in a response email to one resident’s concerns about Center funding. “There are many deserving, community-based organizations on the Island and the choice to give should be the individual’s.”
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