By Nels Johnson
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 09/24/2011 04:00:00 PM PDT
Spending by Marin County supervisors who dipped into a "discretionary" account totaled $364,000 last fiscal year as board members doled out cash to a variety of charities, civic groups and pet projects.
The account, unique among counties in the Bay Area, survived budget cuts that chopped $20 million from services and required 15 layoffs last fiscal year, although spending was pared by the board, which in previous years had tapped the program for roughly $500,000.
In what one grand jury criticized as "political patronage," county supervisors set aside funding to hand out as they please for charitable and civic projects. The spending is unanimously approved each month, but rarely if ever discussed publicly, along with several dozen other matters in a routine "consent calendar" of business. Each supervisor is given discretion to spend the money as he or she pleases.
Budget records indicate that dozens of community groups cashed in last year, ranging from the Marin Community Food Bank and the Ross Valley School District to Senior Access and the Tomales Community Services District.
Board president Susan Adams, in a departure from her tradition as the board's most frugal member, was the big spender, logging a $116,000 expense. Hal Brown, absent for half the fiscal year recuperating from cancer treatments, spent the least at $43,600. Other totals: Steve Kinsey, $79,000; Judy Arnold, $71,000, and the late Charles McGlashan, $53,400.
County Administrator Matthew Hymel said there is nothing amiss with the program. "The funds really are for small, one-time community projects in the districts, and we have all the providers confirm they use the funds for said purposes," Hymel said, noting the funding has been reduced from $110,000 per supervisor in recent years.
In a deal worked out behind closed doors, supervisors decided to provide more discretionary money to those with aides who work slightly less than full time. Adams gets the equivalent of 1.8 aides and an $85,000 discretionary fund; Brown gets the equivalent of 1.9 aides and a $75,000 fund, and the other three supervisors each retain two full-time aides and $65,000 to dole out as they please. Funds not spent roll over in individual accounts year after year.
Most board members did not respond to a request for comment, but Adams said the funding promoted vital community endeavors.
"The funds help provide flexible matches for many important community projects," she said, calling it a "community services grant program, not a 'discretionary account,' which implies we personally write the checks without public process."
Adams added that "every dollar that is allocated comes before the Board of Supervisors for approval in an open public process before allocations are made." Anyone who reviews spending account details available from the county administrator can "see the public good that is provided," she said.
Adams' supervisorial foe last year, former Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni, called the account a political "slush fund," and the 2001 Marin County Civil Grand Jury said the program curried political favor. "Alliances are created and favors curried by reason of such payments," the jury concluded.
Individual grants last year included allocations of $10,000 each by Adams to Marin Builders Association Home and Garden Show, Community Institute for Psychotherapy, Friends of San Rafael/San Pedro Road Median, and Marinwood Community Services District ($9,660). Arnold gave $10,000 to the Novato Youth Center, and Kinsey gave $10,000 to the Tomales Village Community Services District.
Although many smaller grants were made, allocations of $2,000 or more included:
• Adams: Meals of Marin, $6,000; Marinwood Farmers Market, $3,609; Dixie School District, $3,000; Catholic Charities CYO, $5,000; Enriching Lives Through Music, $5,000; Sun Valley PTO, $3,000; Las Gallinas Lions Club, $2,175; Rotary Valley Inc., $2,500; Marin Community Food Bank, $4,611; Strategic Energy Innovations, $6,000; Venetia Valley School PTA, $5,000; Community Action Marin, $3,000; Environmental Education Council of Marin, $2,500; Boys and Girls Club of Marin and Sonoma, $5,000; Healthy Marin Partnership, $2,000; and Santa Venetia community survey, $7,000.
• Brown: Ross Valley School District, $7,500; Marin Link, $2,000; Sleepy Hollow Homes Association, $2,500; Meals of Marin, $2,000; Davidson Middle School, $2,000; Oak Manor Homes Association, $3,000; Marin Services for Women, $2,000; and Lomita Park Neighborhood Association, $3,000.
• McGlashan: Senior Access, $5,000; Performing Stars of Marin, $5,000; Marin Theater Co., $2,000; Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, $2,500; Sausalito Film Festival, $2,750; College of Marin, $2,500; Tiburon Pensinula Foundation, $2,500; Bridge the Gap College Prep, $3,000, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Marin and Sonoma, $7,500.
• Kinsey: Slide Ranch, $2,500; Community Action Marin, $3,500; Corte Madera Community Foundation, $2,500; Bolinas Community Center, $2,500; Novato Youth Center, $5,000; Community Action Marin/Bolinas Children's Center, $2,500; Marin Organic, $4,000; Go Next Generation, $2,500; Marin County School Volunteers, $2,000; San Rafael Community Services, $3,900; San Geronimo Valley Community Center, $7,000; KWMR Radio, $3,200; Marin Education Fund, $2,000; Boys and Girls Clubs of Marin and Sonoma, $2,500; Dance Palace Community Center, $2,500; Marin Foster Parent Association ,$5,000; Home Base/Far West Fest, $2,500, and Shoreline Acres Preschool, $2,500.
• Arnold: Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, $2,500; Community Action Marin, $2,000; College of Marin, $2,500; Novato Youth Football and Cheer, $3,000; Museum of the American Indian, $5,000; Friends of the Novato Libraries, $4,000; Zan Media, $2,000; San Marin and Novato high schools, $4,000; Novato Chamber of Commerce, $2,500, and Novato Foundation for Public Education, $5,000.
In addition to other small grants, Arnold and Brown reported $250 each to the Marin Independent Journal's Newspapers in Education program.
Contact Nels Johnson via email at ij.civiccenter@gmail.com
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_18963737
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The Directorate of Civic Center is located in the Marin County Civic Center building designed by Frank Lloyd Administration Wright.
“The Superior Court may prevent the filing of a report only when the report is illegal,” Olmedo wrote in her order on March 25, referring to reports that include no independent investigation or cover a topic outside the jury’s purview.
A few hours later, the report was released.
This organization is composed of current and former grand jurors from throughout the state.
CALIFORNIA GRAND JURORS' ASSOCIATION An association of former and current Marin County Grand Jurors interested in strengthening the Civil Grand Jury
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