Arts of the Pamlico rallying supporters around funding issue

Published 6:49 pm Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Arts of the Pamlico has issued a “call for action” regarding the funding it receives from the City of Washington.

In an email distributed Tuesday, the grassroots arts organization, formerly known as the Beaufort County Arts Council, asked its supporters to attend Monday’s City Council meeting, where city funding for outside agencies is expected to be discussed. The email, written by Joey Toler, AOP’s executive director, discusses the relationship between the city and AOP, including the city’s previous financial support of AOP. The email notes the city was an important part of AOP’s three-year strategic plan, developed prior to AOP’s purchase of the Turnage Theatre, where AOP’s offices are located.

“Though no formal commitments were made, it was strongly indicated at the time that COW would be financially supportive of our efforts. Today, while we still have some capacity building to do among private support, our 3-year plan is on track – except for the glaring deficit in support from COW,” reads a section of the email.

The email continues: “Three City Managers and two Mayors later, we find ourselves in the position of having to defend ourselves to sustain our funding. AOP, along with all outside agencies, has been informed ‘future funding would most likely be significantly reduced and/or eliminated over the next three years.’”

In recent years, the city has become more frugal with funding it gives to outside agencies.

The city dispersed $14,400 to AOP for the current fiscal year. That amount represents a 10-percent reduction in city funding from fiscal year 2014-2015, when AOP received $16,000 from the city. AOP’s appropriation from the city has declined in at least three previous fiscal years.

“It’s a strategy. It’s not desperation. It’s not a way to — you know, we just want the council to know that we have a lot of public support, and we have done our job building our capacity with the public. We have always considered the city a partner and a major stakeholder. They need to value what we bring to this community. I think the bodies will help us make our case,” Toler said Wednesday in a brief interview.

City Manager Bobby Roberson, in a brief interview Wednesday, said he’s not made a recommendation for the council concerning funding for AOP, adding the council is not yet in a position to make decisions about funding outside agencies in the upcoming budget. Most outside agencies, as of Wednesday, had not yet submitted their funding requests to the city, he said.

“I want to treat everyone equally,” Roberson said, adding that if one outside agency’s funding is changed by a specific percentage, funding for other outside agencies should be changed by that amount.

The city also moved AOP from the budget for outside agencies to the city’s budget for economic development, as it did with the Washington Harbor District Alliance. The city also moved the North Carolina Estuarium and Washington Christmas parade (organized by the Washington Kiwanis) from the outside agencies category into a downtown economic development fund. Those moves were made last year during deliberations on the current budget.

During its budget deliberations last year, the council considered not funding outside agencies in the current budget.

“We’ve seen it (funding) go in the other direction. I thought we had made some progress last year when they moved us from the outside-agencies column to economic development. I thought, ‘OK. Good. That takes us out of the crosshairs.’ But then we get the same letter all the outside agencies get. … So, what difference did it make?” Toler said.

Council member Virginia Finnerty is a part-time worker at AOP.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. To view the council’s agenda for a specific meeting, visit the city’s web­site at www.washingtonnc.gov, click “Government” then “City Council” heading, then click “Meeting Agendas” on the menu to the right. Then click on the date for the appropriate agenda.

 

 

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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