If the City of Washington wants money from Beaufort County, it will have to do what outside agencies seeking county funding are required to do — submit a form explaining why it wants county dollars.

There is no guarantee the county will fund any of the city’s requests. The deadline for submitting a funding request to the county is March 7, according to Anita Radcliffe, the county’s finance officer. The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners determines which outside agencies receive county funding and the amount each agency receives.

“It appears they have gone to the same format the city has in terms of funding outside agencies,” City Manager Bobby Roberson told the City Council during its meeting Monday. “In order for us to receive any funding from the county, we’ve got to fill out the form as an outside agency and submit the form. Before we move forward in terms of producing the form, I want to be sure the council gives … Matt and I permission to file on behalf of the city. Whether we’ve got to make a presentation, I don’t know.”

For years the city has sought initial or increased county funds for programs and services the city provides and that are used mostly by county residents who do not live in the city nor pay city taxes. City officials have contended the county should pay its fair share of operating and providing services used by county residents who are not city residents.

“The three items that we have looked at — and, of course, we can do whatever the council wants to — is, No. 1, the pool. We’ve had the pool in tab for a number of years. The second thing is the library. We’re still negotiating that out. They told us we were going to receive $100,000,and then they took the $100,000 out. … I would definitely say their library allocation ought to be, at a minimum, at least $100,000. The senior center was another one, a topic of discussion we’ve had in the past about the operation of the senior center. The participation is about 70-30 — 70 percent outside and 30 inside.”

“If we know the library’s budget is $300,000, we should ask them for $180,000,” Councilman Doug Mercer said, noting that about 60 percent of library patrons are county residents who are not city residents.

If the council wants to file other funding requests with the county, Roberson said he and Matt Rauschenbach, the city’s chief financial officer, would do so.

“If you don’t fill them out, they’re not going to give the city any funding at all. That’s my understanding,” Roberson said.

Several council members suggested the city seek county funding for recreational and sports programs the city supports, saying many county residents who are not city participate in those programs.

Neither council members nor Roberson specified how much money the city would seek from the county.