Keep Manatee Beautiful says it barely stays afloat. Will county budget sink it for good?

Polluted waters and trashed streets come to the mind of Keep Manatee Beautiful’s executive director Ingrid McClellan if proper funding isn’t allocated for the cleanup nonprofit.

But the county does not believe the organization will crumble with the current proposed budget.

In each of the past five years, Manatee County has provided Keep Manatee Beautiful with $53,114, which McClellan said is hardly enough to cover the salary of the nonprofit’s sole paid employee — herself.

The organization gets by largely through in-kind donations, grants and an increasing army of volunteers to clean up county roads and shores, plant trees and create more opportunities to recycle. Last year, 11,955 volunteers donated 30,312 hours worth $731,731.68, according to Independent Sector.

But the proposed 2017-18 fiscal year budget proposes to cut the county’s involvement with Keep Manatee Beautiful by nearly half, to $32,503, which would mean no funds for the storm drain stenciling program or program coordination that is used for fundraising, creating events and writing grants.

According to Neighborhood Services Director Cheri Coryea, who presented the proposed non-profit agency funding to the board of county commissioners last week, commissioners have emphasized public safety, including law enforcement, emergency management and infrastructure, as their top priority.

“It would be my assumption if they lost funds from any of their sources, not just the county, they would take a moment and evaluate their organization and focus towards what they would be able to do with the remaining funding,” Coryea wrote in an email to the Bradenton Herald.

McClellan said she let her volunteers know that the annual International Coastal Cleanup in Manatee and the America Recycles Day at SandBlast may not happen due to budget constraints.

Many other Keep America Beautiful affiliates in Florida are embedded with their county governments, including Keep Sarasota County Beautiful.

According to Sarasota County Government spokesman Jason Bartolone, Sarasota’s program — which was originally run by the city in 1987 — is fully funded by the county’s enterprise fund. He said it costs $46,000 to run with up to 3,000 volunteers a year.

But Keep Manatee Beautiful is a separate entity and uses office space in the county’s Utilities Department under a memorandum of understanding agreement, which McClellan said may no longer be an option.

“They think we should go find another space and not be on county property,” McClellan said.

Changing contact information would be another expense for the nonprofit, she said.

“The county doesn't normally provide free office space for agencies that are not a part of the county structure or required to have,” Coryea wrote in an email. “We have hundreds of nonprofits that we provide grants to and feel that these entities should be able to stand on their own since our funds are general fund tax dollars and are only available annually if funds are available from property taxes and cannot be guaranteed annually for anyone.”

A suggestion offered at last week’s county commission work session was to use tourism tax dollars to help fund the nonprofit.

According to the county’s proposed 2017-18 non-profit agency funding budget, nonprofits will receive a total of $845,110, or about 1.8 percent less than in the current year. Other programs facing cuts include Women’s Resource Center of Manatee, Community Haven and United Cerebral Palsy of Southwest Florida.

County commissioners will be holding the first of two budget public hearings on Sept. 18 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Manatee County Administrative Building. The new budget kicks in Oct. 1.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Keep Manatee Beautiful says it barely stays afloat. Will county budget sink it for good?."