No One Asked Me But…

by Dr. Larry Moses
Published August 26, 2009

No one asked me but… There is an agency within the Clark County Department of Finance called Community Resources Management. Among its various duties, this agency oversees a program titled Outside Agency Grants. During the recent boom years, there has been an abundance of money to help fund private agencies that fill the needs of the people of Clark County outside the government. If these private agencies were not in existence there would be a greater demand for the county government to step up and do the things these groups do. Some are essential, others are just programs that make life better and would be missed if they did not exist. Recognizing the importance of these organizations, the county has set aside funds to help them remain in operation.

Years ago in a galaxy far away the process for getting some of those funds for your organization was simple. You had a meeting with your county commissioner and explained to him/her what your program was, how it helped the people of your community and how much you needed. He/she then took it to the commission as a whole and you received some of or your entire request.

But as more and more organizations became aware of this program, the commissioners were swamped with competing requests. The commissioners came up with an application process and assigned a county employee to screen the applications and present recommendations as to which programs should be funded and by how much.

No longer are we in boom times. The county’s budget is tight, but the commissioners still recognize the importance of many private agencies benefitting the inhabitants of Clark County.

No longer do they have an abundance of funds for these organizations, but they do have some money to share. In our area, applications were submitted from three Mesquite organizations, all under the guise of the city. The city asked for help funding the Mesquite Fine Arts Center, Mesquite Recreation Center and the Mesquite Senior Center. In Moapa Valley, four non-profit organizations asked for monetary help from the county; the Cappalappa Family Resource Center, Moapa Valley Performing Arts Council, the Old Logandale School Historical and Cultural Society, and the Society for the Preservation of the Old Overton Gym. These organizations were only seven of one hundred and fifty-four organizations seeking funds for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The requests far exceeded the funds available and some hard decision had to be made.

Most of these organizations had received supplemental funding from the county in the past. Each and every one of the private non-profits depend on membership dues and donations, but the additional funds from the county are very important to keep them open and serving the people of these communities. In this year of budget cuts, the county was faced with the dilemma of which organization to fund and by how much. All agencies were cut and some zeroed out. When the recommendations came from the Community Resource Management office, to the county commissioners, all of the Mesquite and Moapa Valley agencies had been zeroed out.

Upon reviewing the recommendations, Commissioner Tom Collins stepped forward and championed the cause of the rural communities. When he had finished, Tom was able to get some funding for each of these rural organizations. The City of Mesquite was able to get $60,000 to split however it sees fit among its three requests. The Cappalappa Family Resource Center was awarded $55,000 to help the poor in Moapa. The Old Overton Gym and OLSHACS were each given $15,000 to help cover the cost of operations. The Moapa Valley Performing Arts Council received $2,000 for programming.

While these are sums below the application requests, they are quite a bit more than the zero amount designated by the staff. Our commissioner, Tom Collins, was instrumental in getting the funds and a thank you is due.

I find this whole funding issue interesting. There are those of us, and I include myself, who are diametrically opposed to government intervention in our lives. We believe the less government does the better off we are. But have you noticed the government usually interferes only when we fail to solve the problem outside the government? Ideally, we would fund these organizations with private donations, but that has not been the case and therefore they have turned to the county for funds.

I rationalize this by saying this money will be spent somewhere and it might as well be in my locale. I further rationalize that if I were not so heavily taxed, I would have the money to donate. The first statement probably has merit. The money will be spent so it might as well be spent in our community. The second statement is probably pure hogwash. If I weren’t taxed so heavily I would probably spend the money on a new computer and a large flat screen T.V.

None of these organizations have the funding they need to operate at their full capability. It is now time for those of us who believe in free enterprise, and have the monetary capability to do so, to step forward and make a donation to the organizations we are most interested in. The more we do for ourselves, the less the government will feel it is necessary to do for us.

No one asked me but… This last month I traveled over five thousand miles in the western United States. I traveled through Montana, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada and California.

In every state but California, I could have legally carried a hand gun. Only in California were my Second Amendment rights infringed upon.

The interesting thing about this is that the only state I felt I needed a handgun for protection was in California.

Let me note that I was not armed in any of the states, but the only place I felt uncomfortable was Los Angeles, California.

When I commented recently on the price of gas, stating the highest I saw in the west was here in our valley, I had not yet been to California. I must amend that column; gas was higher in the Los Angeles area of California, at over $3 a gallon.

I would feel bad for Californians but they have brought this on themselves. One Califony stated he was fine with the price because they were saving the world with this expensive gas mix that cost more than we earth-hating Nevadans are willing to pay.

I just smiled and thought no wonder you dummies are bankrupt. I am not sure what that says about me…or California.

Thought of the week… Everybody wants to eat at the government’s table, but nobody wants to do the dishes. – Werner Finck