Budget Hearing for Social Service and Arts Agencies Is Tuesday

Representatives from nonprofit arts and social service agencies will make their funding requests to Mayor Greg Fischer Tuesday.The mayor's office has asked agencies that typically receive grants in the city budget to attend a public forum on the spending plan at Metro Hall. The allocations to external agencies are among the most contentious and revised parts of the budget.Steven Bowling with the Center for Women and Families says he hopes the hearing will help prevent the uncertainty his organization and others faced waiting for a response to their grant applications."When you just read a grant or read pieces of paper, sometimes it's hard to get a grasp of what the programming issues are. So by doing this in advance and really getting in front of the folks that will be making the decisions, I think that gives any organization a better chance," he says.The general public is invited to several other budget hearings, including one Monday at the Shawnee Golf course. Fischer will gather citizen input through mid-March, then send his proposed budget to the Council in mid-May.The citizen budget hearings are:Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m.Southwest Government Center, 7219 Dixie HighwayFeb. 28, 1 p.m.Shawnee Golf Course community room, 460 Northwestern ParkwayMarch 1, 1 p.m.Metro Hall, Mayor’s Gallery, 527 W. Jefferson St.March 8, 7 p.m.East Government Center, 200 Juneau Dr. in MiddletownMarch 12, 1 p.m.Central Government Center, 7201 Outer Loop