Townsville City Council to review how often community groups can receive grant funding

Councillors are considering stricter guidelines and “cost cutting measures” on grants funding that could lead to funding for some events running dry. DETAILS.

Pop Fest has received funding from the council on multiple occasions.

Community groups may suffer a major funding blow if Townsville City Council moves forward with proposal to amend the Community Grands Guidelines.

Some councillors have taken issue with the current guidelines, which allow one grant application per activity per annum.

The review will explore changing the guidelines to allow only one grant application per organisation, per annum.

The review would also discuss cutting the maximum amount of funding available by 50 per cent, moving the threshold from $50,000 to $25,000, along with a number of other changes.

The councillors will now discuss the review at a workshop to work how they want the grants process to work moving forward.

The topic divided councillors in this week’s ordinary meeting, with some claiming the amendments would make it harder for community groups to run essential events, and isn’t acting in the benefit of the broader community.

“There are a couple of organisations that do run more than one event per financial year, and the separate events are both quite excellent,” Councillor Andrew Robinson said.

Cr Suzy Batkovic. Picture: Evan Morgan

However, Cr Suzy Batkovic felt the grants should help events get off the ground, not be a constant source of funding.

“In five years time I don’t want to see the same people coming back asking for the same amount of money or more, it shouldn’t be about that,” she said.

“We help them to get going.”

Hone Events runs Townsville PopFest and Townsville Medieval and Fantasy Festival, both of which attract hundreds of patrons.

Townsville Pop Fest 2023 organisers Hone Events' Tiffany and Bev Hone. Picture: Leighton Smith.

Mr Robinson said if the proposal goes through, Hone Events may be forced to cut back.

“They run two excellent events, two separate from each other,” he said.

“But under this new policy, they would only be eligible for one grant per financial year.

“What we are effectively doing then, is cutting off people who may be able to put on a great show, a great event for people to be able to attend.”

Andrew Robinson. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Cr Liam Mooney said the proposal was another step forward in reducing community support.

“While I absolutely support the need for council to be financially responsible, I do not support cost-cutting measures that negatively impact our local community,” he said in a Facebook post.

“I am very concerned that this may be the thin end of the wedge when it comes to reducing support for community organisations.”

Councillor Liam Mooney at the Townsville City Council general meeting. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Ms Batkovic said with the 50 per cent funding reduction, the council needs to find a fair way forward.

“It’s not sustainable, as we talked about we’re in a cost-of-living crisis, we can’t give to everybody,” she said.

“One [event] per financial year is more than fair for each group because we currently have exhausted all funding as it is.”

Originally published as Townsville City Council to review how often community groups can receive grant funding