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Luzerne County Council members wanted to pick this year’s natural-gas recreation funding recipients instead of relying on a screening committee, but now they are wrestling over which entities will make the cut.
Only $65,457 is available to disburse, and a total of $314,781 in requests for 18 projects were submitted by municipalities, two nonprofits and the county administration.
The pot will shrink to $55,457 if council grants the county administration’s request for $10,000 to fund landscaping maintenance at the county-owned River Common recreation site along the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre. That allocation would unlock new commitments of $20,000 each from King’s College and Wilkes University for event programming at the park.
During this week’s work session, Councilman Robert Schnee predicted he and his colleagues could spend 10 hours debating the merits of each and still not reach a consensus.
Instead, he said he will propose granting the River Common earmark and divvying up the rest equally among the 17 other projects, which would equate to $3,235 each.
But that approach may be counterproductive because most entities are seeking far more, said council Chairwoman Linda McClosky Houck.
“The problem with that is some of these projects won’t get touched,” she said.
As an example, she pointed to Wright Township, which is seeking $15,000 to construct two dog parks — one for dogs under 30 pounds and the other for canines over that weight. The municipality would kick in $5,000.
Schnee’s suggestion made sense to Councilwoman Jane Walsh Waitkus, who said organizations can continue seeking financial support elsewhere to close the gap.
“I think it’s impractical for us to just choose one or two and say to heck with everybody else. I think that would be very difficult to do,” Walsh Waitkus said.
Councilman Harry Haas believes preference should go to projects that include matching funds, such as Plains Township’s request for two allocations, $35,000 each, to build 3,000-square-foot rain gardens that collect stormwater runoff and provide public education about environmental best practices.
The township would provide $5,000 matches for each, and the gardens may reduce a new stormwater fee that must be paid by residents, he said. The impact may be more far-reaching than some other proposals to purchase picnic tables, bleachers and mulch, Haas said, stressing he’d like to support all requests.
“The main criteria I was looking at is are they leveraging these funds to get more buy-in from other funding sources?” Haas said.
Walsh Waitkus argued the applicants’ financial resources also should be considered. Plains Township receives additional gaming funds for its community needs because the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino is located within its boundaries, she said.
“Yes, some are looking for a gazebo or picnic tables, but they really have no source of money. They’re not Plains Township. I don’t think you can view them equally,” Walsh Waitkus said.
Councilman Eugene Kelleher concurred with that point, saying some worthy projects must wait.
“Some have a bigger need than others because they don’t have the money to spend on these types of projects,” Kelleher said.
Vice Chairman Tim McGinley proposed eliminating requests for multiple projects or from entities that received past natural-gas funding. Plains Township was the only one to request funding for two projects.
Butler Township received past funding, but it also has a $50,000 softball organization match for its new request for $35,000 to help construct a trail network and add playground equipment for children with disabilities at the Freedom Park recreation complex.
Shickshinny also received funding before and is seeking $6,752 to buy two picnic tables, playground mulch and basketball backboards and hoops, with no local match offered.
A council majority had voted to take control of the selection process in April after concerns that volunteer recreation advisory board members on the screening committee could be affiliated with entities seeking funding. Council members plan to vote on the requests at their next meeting Oct. 10.