San Rafael, CA – The Marin County Board of Supervisors has approved several reforms to its Community Services program designed to improve public transparency in the process to allocate $300,000 annually to nonprofits, schools and other governmental partners.
With Supervisor Steve Kinsey dissenting, the Board voted 4-1 on June 2 to alter the program’s design and implementation for a one-year trial period. The Board approved eliminating Supervisor sponsorship for funding requests, discouraging applicants from requesting funds for ongoing support, and adding a public review process prior to recommending funding allotments. Funds will be dispersed twice a year rather than three times, but time-sensitive needs could be considered at the discretion of the County Administrator’s Office. See the staff report for a list of all approved program changes.
For more than 20 years, the County of Marin has had a Community Services program, and major changes were approved for the fiscal year 2013-2014. The program provides donations of $1,000 to $10,000 to various community service organizations for one-time service requests. All allocations are reviewed by the County Administrator's Office to ensure that the services and allotments would be appropriate and provide a local public benefit. The Board of Supervisors approves all Community Service program allotments in a public meeting, and any unused funds are returned to the County’s General Fund at the close of each fiscal year.
County staff worked with a Board subcommittee of Board President Katie Rice and Supervisor Damon Connolly to prepare the potential revisions after hearing public feedback regularly about supervisorial involvement in the program. Rice and Connolly both said they saw the revised program guidelines as a compromise and a step toward making the allocation process more open.