No guarantee of festival funding

By Shaun Inguanzo
GREATER Dandenong community groups who missed out on council’s festival funds are no certainty to receive any part of $440,000 of untied Federal Government grants announced last week.
City mayor Peter Brown said the money was a surplus compared to what the council estimated its federal grants would be in the 2006-07 budget.
He said the money was likely to be discussed and allocated at a mid-year review of the budget.
But he warned that community groups whose festivals went unfunded by the council last week would not necessarily receive any funding.
“There are a lot of capital works that need to be done that will be of enduring benefit to the community, whereas festivals provide a one-off opportunity for enjoyment that is rather short-lived, ” Cr Brown said.
He said the council’s community grants program was nearing the end of preliminary allocations with a final meeting to be held by the grants committee on 8 September.
Cr Brown said a document would then come before the council at a September council meeting.
According to Cr Brown, the community grants program fielded applications totalling more than the $440,000 surplus.
He said some groups were certain to miss out on funds, wholly or partly.
“I’ve seen figures for the remaining community grants applications and they are virtually twice the amount of funds available,” he said.