Council reports on grant applications
Wednesday June 17, 2009
Cobar Shire Council has been successful in obtaining 11 different grants totaling $947,125 over the past financial year out of 18 grants applied for.
Three of the grants applied for are still pending approval, while four were unsuccessful.
In a report to council’s finance and policy meeting last week, council’s special projects officer Angela Shepherd said the almost $1million in funding required $340,000 outlay from council.
The report did not include details on Financial Assistance Grants or other associated roads grants received by council, or details of grants received to hold International Women’s Day, Youth Week and Senior’s Week events.
“In addition to the grants outlined, council prepares grants for organisations it is involved with, such as the Cobar Business Association and Cobar Enterprise Facilitation and assists community and sporting groups with applications,” Ms Shepherd reported to council.
Cr Peter Yench queried whether the grant applications were personally presented to the relevant authorities, saying he believed it would achieve better results.
“We’ve got to put pressure on our
local members [John Cobb and Kevin Humphries], and also take these submissions to Canberra and Sydney, talk to the
government and the opposition.
“If we sit here and send letters and emails we will get nothing,” Cr Yench said.
Council’s general manager Ray Smith
confirmed that none of the applications were personally presented, however mayor Lilliane Brady said she follows up each application with a phone call to the relevant government minister and “asks that it goes straight to them”.
Cr Gerard Francisco said while he understood Cr Yench’s “frustration”, he believed the protocol for grant applications did not allow for personal presentations of the applications.
“When you respond
to these things you need to follow the protocol.
“You don’t get a yes every time.
“There are more people out there and
less money available for infrastructure, so
you can’t expect that we should get it
[grant money] every time,” Cr Francisco
said.
Councillors moved a vote of thanks to Ms Shepherd in recognition of her efforts in seeking grants.
“When you think back a few years we have gone from nothing to millions [in grants],” Cr Marsha Isbester said.
“Something to work with is better than what we got 12 months ago,” she said.
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