Municipal cuts to charities could come at high cost, political scientist cautions

Saint John council has come under fire this week because some community groups that received grants in the past will receive less this year, or in some cases, such as the Cherry Brook Zoo, no operational funding.

But a political science professor who served as the deputy mayor of Sackville, N.B., contends balancing the needs of community groups against providing core services, such as fire and police and water and roads, is a struggle for municipalities across the province.

Large cities and small towns alike are "looking at their obligations … and saying, 'Well, do we want to keep doing what we're doing? Can we afford to keep doing what we're doing?' based on their priorities," said Mount Allison professor Geoff Martin.

Increased reliance on the so-called charity model, however, could lead to bigger societal problems, he cautioned.

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During the 1950s to 1970s, there was an expansion of the role of governments "because of the inadequacies of a pure charity model because too many people were falling through the cracks," said Martin.

"And we may see the same kind of thing again — where if we rely more on the private sector and on charity-minded individuals and service clubs, we may see that we're going to see an increase in hardship in an environment where we already have issues of problems of the working poor and people with disabilities, low-income people and so on. There's a lot of need out there."

​He attributes many of the current problems faced by municipal governments to downloading by the provincial and federal governments over the past 35 years in areas such as recreation and social services, coupled with the increasing costs of providing certain services and growing pressure to spend on economic development.

Still, Martin believes municipalities get "a lot of bang for their buck" in providing support to community organizations that have a volunteer base and "where a little bit of money could go along way."

"So if you can innovate as they did with the whole grants system in trying to achieve your goals with the use of bodies outside of government, that was a good option at the time and I think it remains a good option," he said.

Difficult decisions

Saint John Mayor Don Darling said he would personally like to see the community grants envelope of $179,000 grow in the future.

"Absolutely because, I mean, this is the fabric of the community," he said.

But the city's revenue needs to grow first, said Darling. For now, council is doing the best it can with what it has.

I ask the citizens of this city, which road would you like us not to plow today, or which road would you like us not to pave, or which core service would you like us to adjust?- Don Darling, Saint John mayor

"It is our job … as elected officials to take this operation that we have and make very difficult decisions and match those against our priorities in the bigger picture, the bigger budget," he said, noting the city's budget is only about $12 million, yet council had about $40 million in capital asks.

"I've gotten a little bit of feedback over the last couple of days and I'm not trying to be smart when I say it, but it does come down to this — if we want to increase that envelope of money right now, I ask the citizens of this city, which road would you like us not to plow today, or which road would you like us not to pave, or which core service would you like us to adjust?"

GoFundMe campaign for zoo

He stressed the 14 applicants that were denied community grants are "amazing organizations" that do "excellent work."

Asked specifically about the zoo, Darling said, "This is not a reflection of the city not being supportive of the Cherry Brook Zoo. I know that if you're looking for $50,000 and you didn't get it, I guess I can see a different perspective on that.

"I can tell you in 2015 the community grants group agonized over this exact same topic and communicated, at least to council and I'm not sure what was communicated to the zoo, but that was it. In 2015 was going to be the last $50,000 donation."

Council did agree to cover the zoo's property taxes, up to $10,000 and Darling noted the city also provides the non-profit with free rent on the city's land.

He expects the community will step up and donate to a GoFundMe campaign launched Tuesday by the zoo's executive director Martha McDevitt. The campaign, called This Is Our Zoo, raised $890 of its $50,000 goal within one day and Darling said he plans to make a personal donation.

Darling also pointed out $50,121 has been set aside on reserve for a second round of community grants funding and any of the rejected applicants are welcome to reapply by the May 1 deadline, including the zoo.