Facing hefty budget cuts, Gainesville officials may decide to put a freeze on funds given to city departments and nonprofit organizations for unforeseen expenses.
Groups would no longer be able to request money from a city contingency fund set aside for expenses not in the city budget. The fund holds about $115,000 per year.
City Manager Russ Blackburn said he didn't know when the freeze might take effect, but that it would not be the first time.
Programs that receive funding often bring cultural or economic value to the city, Blackburn said.
Often, the funds are paid back into the budget when groups use them to hire city police or paramedics to man events, he said.
Contingency funds in the past year have gone to causes including a conference on university-city relations, a city work program for the homeless that lost its grant funding and a $10 subsidy of summer camp fees for city residents.
Organizations that want to apply for for funds fill out a form explaining how much money they are requesting and what public purpose the cause serves.
The funds are doled out in packages of no more than $10,000, Blackburn said. If more funds are required, the organization needs to request city budget funds in advance.
Commissioners then vote to grant full or partial funding.
"They can also decide it's a worthy thing but not something to spend city funds on," Blackburn said.
Blackburn estimated the city uses about $50,000 of its contingency fund each year.
The money may not seem like much compared to the $3.1 million budget cut spurred by the new state property tax amendment, but it's something, Blackburn said.
"It certainly doesn't bridge that whole gap," he said.
Meanwhile, the commission is hearing requests for funds as usual.
At their last meeting on Feb. 11, commissioners voted to allocate $3,000 in contingency funds to the Gainesville Commission on the Status of Women to fund scholarships for its annual Sexual Battery Committee conference.
The UF Black Student Union requested $8,000 for its Blackout Weekend, which raises awareness of minority issues.
The Rev. Karl Anderson, founder of People Against Violence Enterprises Inc., said he has received funding for the annual Stop the Violence Rally for most of the rally's eight years.
In 2007 the rally received $5,558 to put up banners, buy backpacks and hire the Gainesville Police Department for security.
Without the city funds, Anderson said he would look to local businesses for donations to fund the $20,000 event.
But Anderson said even if he did not receive funds, he would ask for city support.
"It's not just the money, but it's the actual involvement as well that's important," he said.
