Town turns down fire department Heritage Days request

A request by the Hope Volunteer Fire Department for money from Hope's income tax revenue was turned down last week by the Town Council. 

The fire department had asked for $3,150 from the town's income tax revenue to buy food and supplies and pay the booth rental space for Hope Heritage Days. Councilman Clyde Compton, who also serves as president of the town's Economic Development Income Tax review committee, said that the committee voted 3-2 to approve the request, but he split with other members of the committee.

Instead, Compton said he viewed this as a slap in the face to other local not-for-profit groups who take part in Heritage Days. For those groups, the annual festival in September is their largest fundraiser of the year. Yet, they pay for all of their own supplies and booth rental. Compton said he was concerned that granting the request would open a Pandora's box, with all the not for profit groups asking for similar assistance.

The council voted 4-1 to disapprove the request for funds. Councilwoman Nellie Meek was the lone member to vote for the request. 

The town allows local groups to apply for grant funds from the EDIT account. Last week, HSJ Online was approved for a grant of $3,497 from the EDIT funds to provide for the website including business profiles, event previews, web hosting costs and costs for Facebook post boosts.