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Groups leave council with money, but not what they were hoping for

By Shannon Burkey

With a little extra money in its pocket, the Saratoga City Council had 12 groups come forward at its May 16 meeting requesting one-time community grants.

After reviewing its budget at a March 2 retreat, the council decided to allocate $75,000 of the $1.8 million undesignated fund balance to community grants. As soon as organizations in the area got wind of the news, they came out in force looking for money.

"There are some good groups out there and I wish we had all the money, but we've had double the amount of requests for the amount of money we have," said Vice Mayor Ann Waltonsmith.

The largest request came from the Saratoga Historical Museum, which asked for $73,200.

Chuck Schoppe, president of the Saratoga Historical Foundation, said the money would be used for items such as educational programs, museum and walking tour brochures, a large-screen video system and an ADA-compliant cabinet system.

"One of our goals for the past three years has been to raise the level of awareness of our museum in the community and the surrounding community as well. Another goal has been to raise our value as a resource for our educational community and for our researchers in the museum," Schoppe said.

The Saratoga Chamber of Commerce requested $29,000, with $10,000 going toward the Celebrate Saratoga Teen Scene and the rest to lease additional office space and build up its website.

"We really want to be the hub of the city and make it just one place people can go to to get what they need," said Chris Oakes, acting executive director of the Chamber.

Saratoga's community access television station, KSAR 15, requested a one-time sum of $25,000 to help with its operational funds. The station has already received a one-time grant of $25,000 this year and will receive its annual grant from the city for $25,000. However, the station has struggled to stay afloat since city budget cuts in 2005 resulted in a cut to KSAR's budget.

"The combination of the net proceeds from our fee for services among the city plus other non-city revenues received for programming and membership is not enough to cover the operating expenses, and this is causing us to spend down our revenue," said Tom Stoiber, chairman of the station's board of directors.

Two other local organizations, the Saratoga Foothill Club Historic Foundation and the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council, also requested large sums of money from the council. Several other outside organizations, such as the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley and Cupertino Community Services, also came out seeking a piece of the pie.

If the city had granted all the requests, the amount would have totaled $233,315.

Each council member came up with a list of how the money should be allocated, then tried to reach a compromise with one another.

"We each have something that is near and dear to our hearts, but we have to look at what we need overall in Saratoga," Councilwoman Kathleen King said.

For Waltonsmith, the decision was easy.

"Charity begins at home. They're all wonderful programs, but our home teams aren't going to get money from anyone else," she said. "We are directly responsible for KSAR, SASCC and the historical museum; after that then I'm willing to talk about what else."

But with one-time money set aside, King said the city has a responsibility to look at all the requests, not just those from Saratoga agencies. She also felt the Chamber should be on the list of "home teams."

"I think highly of KSAR, but not to the extent that we don't take care of other outside agencies that do a lot for our citizens," she said. "We gave KSAR $25,000 before we even walked in here, and so I don't see cutting back on the Chamber so that one of the other groups sees better."

Councilwoman Jill Hunter said she wants to know how the organizations affect Saratoga and whether they are a necessity.

"I relate it to how well they support the city and how we can survive if we didn't have them," she said.

Council members had their own priorities, and the numbers did not match up with each other. In the end, they decided to give each agency an average of the five amounts proposed by council members, with most of the agencies receiving considerably less than they asked for.

By taking an average, the Chamber received only $1,000 out of the $19,000 it sought for operational upgrades, leaving some council members feeling it had been shortchanged.

"I would like to point out that we're funding a non-Saratoga activity, the Children's Health Initiative, at three times what we're funding the Chamber. We're funding the wildlife center at 1 1/2 times what we're funding the Chamber and we're funding the Walden West school at two times what we're funding a Saratoga entity," Councilman Chuck Page said.

But Waltonsmith said she saw this as the only option.

"My sense was that we were going to be at a stalemate," she said. "We each have our own favorites we didn't want to give up on, but this is the best we can do."

However, Page felt the council could have done more.

"While it makes some logical sense to do it this way, I think we're demeaning both the organizations and our own intent in just taking an average, and I think if we knew we were doing this beforehand the numbers may have been dramatically different than they are right now," Page said. "Going through this process and changing the way we're going about it at the last moment is a travesty."

The council voted to accept the averages, but to take $5,000 out of its contingency budget and add it on to the Chamber's amount.

Totals requested and received include: Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors--requested $320, received $320; KSAR--requested $25,000, received $20,700; Cupertino Community Services--requested $37,393, received $2,400; SASCC--requested $21,000, received $18,000; Chamber of Commerce, Teen Scene--requested $10,000, received $10,000; Chamber of Commerce, operational upgrades--requested $19,000, received $6,000; Saratoga Foothill Club Historical Foundation--requested $29,402, received $8,600; Saratoga Historical Museum--requested $73,200, received $6,640; Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley--requested $8,000, received $1,536; Walden West--requested $50,000, received $2,100; Relay for Life--requested $5,000, received $200; Santa Clara County Family Health Plan--requested $5,500, received $3,326.