County’s grant resources expected to shrink

Last year, Shelby County awarded $ 495,000 in grant money to the Community Alliance for the Homeless.

The agency, which works with other nonprofit groups to end homelessness, was one of more than a dozen organizations — including Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of Greater Memphis, Shelby County Books from Birth and the Mid-South Food Bank — that received a total of $ 1. 36 million in county grant money during fiscal 2013, which ends June 30.

That compares with nearly $1.7 million in fiscal 2012 and $1.4 million in fiscal 2011.

However, greater demands on county dollars, coupled with an anticipated drop in property tax revenues after the real estate reappraisals, leave officials cautioning that Shelby County will not have the resources to be as generous in fiscal 2014.

“We just don’t have the luxury of a lot of money to use on grants,” said County Mayor Mark Luttrell. “There are going to be more demands on us just for the things we’re required to cover.”

As t he administration prepares to present the f iscal 2014 budget to the County Commis- sion, it has already received about $2.3 million in grant requests, said Harvey Kennedy, county CAO.

Each one is for a worthy cause, Kennedy said.

“But there’s just a limit to how much of the taxpayers’ money we can give away,” he said.

Losing county money would be “painful and severe,” said Katie Kitchin, executive director of the homeless alliance.

County money helps pay t he professionals who assist people such as 49-year- old Robert Inktum. With help from the 100KHomes/Memphis100 project, Inktum gained permanent housing three months ago, leaving the streets after 25 years.

“I really need t his group of people. They’ve been working with me. There’s a whole lot of other people that need help also,” Inktum said.

The alliance for the homeless has an annual budget of $ 1.4 million, money it funnels to more than 100 providers of services for the homeless, Kitchin said.

The possible loss of county money isn’t the only funding problem, she said.

“The worst, I think, is the timing with what’s happening with public funds in general. We took a 3½ percent cut this year in federal funds,” Kitchin said, a nearly $ 300,000 bite.

Some grants, which must be approved by the County Commission, will be awarded, Luttrell said.

But t he additional money needed for education and to reform Juvenile Court in compliance with an agreement with the U. S. Department of Justice leaves the county with a longer list of mandatory expenses. And with falling property tax revenues, there’s less money to pay for them.

“I won’t say there won’t be any grants, but I will say we do not have a lot of money to use on things that are not the bare necessities,” Luttrell said. “The bills have got to be paid first.”