In preparation of finalizing its next two-year financial plan, the Solvang City Council recently discussed the proposed budget, including funding requests from multiple nonprofits.
The final 2022-24 budget will be presented for adoption at the end of June, but several representatives spoke during the City Council’s May 23 meeting to explain their respective organizations’ requests in advance of the vote.
The Elverhoj Museum of History and Art, the Solvang Senior Center, and the Rotary Club of the Santa Ynez Valley were among the groups represented, although some nonprofits on the list of funding requests—including Solvang Theaterfest and People Helping People—did not have representatives at the meeting. Requests ranged between $25,000 and $200,000.
After brief presentations, City Manager Xenia Bradford asked members of the City Council to provide feedback or suggest any modifications to the preliminary budget.
Councilmember Robert Clarke responded with hesitation to approve the requested funds, especially “with a recession on the horizon,” he said.
“I feel like a chipmunk and I want to put my acorns away for winter, because we just don’t know what’s going on out there,” Clarke said. “These are Solvang tax dollars that we’re talking about. … So how do you become the Grinch and say no to anybody that comes to the city of Solvang and asks for money? But it’s not our money, it’s the taxpayers’ money. … Our tax base might dry up in the next two years. We don’t know.”
Clarke said he believes most of the nonprofits asking for funds do deserve financial support, but added “it’s not a matter of whether these are deserving or they’re not.”
“I still have to this day not seen a bad group come ask us for money,” Clarke said. “Every one of them sounds great, except for, sorry, nevermind, there’s one request here that I have a real big problem with and I’ll discuss it next time.”
Clarke later revealed the group he was referring to, after Bradford asked the City Council to comment on any individual requests it would like to see pulled from the list or modified.
“I would like clarification from. … People Helping People, because they’re asking for money here,” Clarke said, referring to the Santa Ynez-based nonprofit’s request of $25,000.
Clarke said he will not vote in favor of supporting the group, and accused its diversity coordinator of “trashing” the city of Solvang.
“They’re entirely funded by donations, and yet they went out and hired a diversity coordinator,” Clarke said. “This is a group that uses donations to help people, but they’ve got thousands of dollars to hire a diversity coordinator.”
Clarke said he recalls a statement from the group that claimed there are “hate crimes, racial slurs, and discrimination every day in Solvang,” which he described as “bad, bad news for a city that relies on tourist dollars.”
“I’m not supporting a group that’s saying that about the people that I live with,” Clarke said. “I don’t approve of giving money to a group that’s gonna spend money on somebody that trashes Solvang like that.”
Bradford said that there were no representatives from People Helping People at the City Council’s May 23 meeting, but added that she will reach out to the nonprofit—and reps from other organizations who did not attend the meeting—to discuss their requests before the budget’s projected approval date, June 27.
This article appears in Jun 2-9, 2022.