The Sherburne County Board of Commissioners is looking to establish some sort of policy or guidelines when it comes to funding outside organizations.

 

 At a workshop last week, Administrator Steve Taylor presented a list of 21 different organizations that get support from the county each year.

 

Some were non-profit organizations. Others were “partners” of the county, such as the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC), Minnesota Intergovernmental Association (MICA) and Greater St. Cloud Development Corp. Each of those benefits the county by providing grant opportunities or lobbying services.

 

There were also organizations that relied on county support to maintain a specific level of services, like the Great River Regional Library and the Sherburne County Historical Society.

 

But other organizations weren’t so clear cut.

 

“Nothing is easy or clean,” said Taylor. “There’s a lot of moving parts.”

 

Minnesota statutes mandate the county to support some groups, such as the Tri County Humane Society (minimum $4,800).

 

Other statutes allow, but don’t mandate county support.

 

That’s where the board questioned how they determine whether to give support, and if so, how much. Commissioner Tim Dolan pointed to a few organizations, like the Agricultural Society ($32,000 request for 2018), 4-H Camp ($3,000) and the University of Minnesota Extension Office ($129,876) the county has given support to each year.

 

He said each of those organizations’ primary function involved 4-H.

 

“As it sits right now, those funds are dedicated to a program that serves roughly 350 people,” he said. “That’s not to discredit 4-H or any of the non-profits that we give to. But my position would be right now if the boy scouts or girl scouts came in and asked for $128,000, I’d have a hard time saying that we shouldn’t give it to them.”

 

He said a lot of the statutory guidelines say the county has the option to give support. But there are no guidelines at the county level to make those decisions.

 

“We need to create some type of policy for us to fall back on as a board,” he said. “I don’t want to be in a position of someone coming and asking for money and us having to justify why someone else’s (program) is more important than their’s.”

 

Commissioner Felix Schmiesing said he looks at the return on the county’s investment as a gauge.

 

“You look at the Council on Aging, there’s a significant return on our investment there,” he said. “We have to be responsible to review them, but I want to be careful we don’t tie our hands.”

 

Dolan agreed there is some return on investment from programs supported by the county, but the funding amounts were arbitrary.

 

He said in the case of the Extension Office, the county pays to have a staff member.

 

“How are they different from the YMCA, the boys club or girls club?” he asked. “Are we going to fund a staff position for them?”

 

He said at some point, the board is going to have to make a decision on a new request.

 

“It’s going to happen eventually and we have no way to decide,” he said.

 

He said the county Economic Development Authority (EDA) has a scoring process to determine who is eligible for abatements and how much they receive. But there is nothing similar that directs the board for supporting other organizations.

 

Taylor said he would do some research with the AMC, the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) and the state auditor’s website to see what information is available on funding guidelines.

 

He said he will come back with some draft policies for the board to discuss further.