BurlingtonGreen's ask of $50,000 gets approved after lengthy discussion

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct a quote taken from the meeting.

BurlingtonGreen (BG) is asking the City for multi-year funding of $50,000 to help the non-profit do its work.

They are seeking $50,000/year, 2024-27. BG told council’s committee of the whole that they need funding to support what they do, under growing demand.

BG's Amy Schnurr delegated to the committee Monday and said they have successfully executed a variety of projects in its long-established collaboration with the City over 16 years. Schnurr said BG has been able to leverage more than $1.7 million in grant funding.

"We provide the largest presence of environment-related programming, services and impact in the city of Burlington," she said, adding that they are needed now more than ever.

BG said things have changed and traditional core funding from other levels of government is insufficient to support what they do. They said it limits their “ability to provide essential services, keep pace with the steadily growing demands placed on our organization, and to meet established community expectations.”

They also said they have reduced their staff, and can’t sustain doing more with less.

“Like all of you, BurlingtonGreen cares deeply about respecting community tax dollars and we firmly believe that the scope and scale of the impactful services our organization provides is more cost efficient than if the City was to comparably deliver. They added that 100 per cent of the work they do directly impacts the Burlington environment and community.

“With escalating pressures on the environment alongside a growing community, uniting to  advance a mutually-beneficial longer-term agreement could not be more important and timely,” they stated.

Some members of the committee took exception to the idea of using taxpayer dollars to fund a non-profit organization, and the example it could set.

In the end, the committee approved providing one-time funding for 2024 of $50,000. It still  has to be approved by council at its March 19 meeting.

In 2023, BG received $70,000 under the Recreation, Community and Culture’s Community Development program to deliver programs which support the City’s strategic directions related to sustainable transportation, urban nature priorities, climate change actions and zero waste.

Ward 2 councillor Lisa Kearns said her concern is engaging in fees for service with non profits, saying they don’t do that for some of the other city groups such as, Safe Streets Halton, and lots of other community culture groups that help to meet the city goals. 

“Subsidizing not for profits is not the way the city should be using its tax-generated funds,” she said, however, she did acknowledge that the work they do is good value for the city. 

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward pledged to put $70,000 in the next budget to keep BG going. She said the city gets more than its share of work for the costs incurred.

“A lot of the services that they provide, there is absolutely no way, if the city still wanted to deliver those programs and services, that we could do it for less than this. In fact it would cost us tens of thousands of dollars to staff up….they can leverage volunteers, they can leverage senior-level government grants.

“For me, this is the essence of partnership that we want to promote, right here, this thing,” Meed Ward said, adding that maybe the city needs to document that value for service, what they’re getting vs what they’re paying for. It is way more than this investment.”

“That’s why I’m comfortable with it and I see it differently than some of the other groups that operate in our community.

“I’ll probably put ($70,000) in  my budget in 2025, and we can whittle it down or do what we want to do at that point,” she added.

“I see BG as delivering services that we used to, or that we’ve asked them to do, like the Clean-up Green up which is a very different thing, than say the gun club, not to pick on them, but they’re in a city facility.”

Ward 6 councillor Angelo Bentivegna said it’s a trend ”I’m not comfortable with. All these plans and programs are very very good,” he said. “What concerns me is we are doing this pre-budget. This is in the system, and I worry about unintended consequences that we inherit. I won’t support this.”

One councillor said he’s going to sound like the nitpicker, but, Paul Sharman said that in this case, the city is giving money to BG, and it hasn’t gone to tendering practices.

“Would we buy services under other non-profits?” he asked. “We don’t give grants to charitable organizations. “We have high regard for BG, and we have some sympathy and I sense that we are inclined to find a way to fund them where we wouldn’t fund most people, especially grant charities. organizations. I find that a little disturbing and it seems hypocritical. It bothers me”

Sharman had concerns about providing grants for charitable organizations. “Would we be willing to buy services from other non-profits?”

“We’re being inconsistent. It’s not about BurlingtonGreen; it’s about everybody else,” he stated. 

“I’m completely happy with giving BG more money,” he said. “I agree they do good work, I just don’t know if we’re managing it correctly.”

Ward 4 councillor Shawna Stolte said she is supporting the funding and put things into perspective, referring to the committee’s earlier discussion on fireworks.

“We were pleased to spend $35,000+ on 30 minutes of fireworks display. I know that’s a cultural activity; I know it’s fun and it’s wonderful for the community,” she said, but said she would like to see it moved forward in a more organized way. “I really don’t struggle with the idea of spending twice that for long-lasting environmental benefits that are year-round and that benefit all of the Burlington community and into the future. I see this as a small spend.”

The final decision rests with council on March 19, when they’ll discuss an ongoing fee for service of $50,000 per calendar year during the Mayor’s 2025 budget process. They also asked staff to report back on options to waive the approximate $12,000 lease payment by BG for the pumphouse where its facilities are located.