How much should the city of La Salle donate, and to who? Council works out details

The city of La Salle may have a new donation ordinance drafted by the City Council’s next meeting after discussing the details Tuesday night.

The council unanimously approved new donation parameters during Tuesday night’s meeting. The city will cap each donation at $500 individually each year, with the council capping donation funds at $6,000 annually. Both parameters exclude potential donations to the Illinois Valley Food Pantry in La Salle and the Illinois Valley Animal Rescue.

Finance Director John Duncan said he would create another “GL number,” or identification number, to keep track of charity donations throughout the year that will be on the final draft of the appropriations ordinance.

Alderman Bob Thompson opened the discussion during the finance committee meeting regarding the review of monetary donation policies to nonprofits by discussing the $15,000 donation requested by the IVFP at the Dec. 9 meeting.

The council ultimately agreed to donate $1,000 in January with a promise to revisit the matter during its budget hearing.

“My own personal opinion is we have $10,000 tentatively scheduled for an electronics retrieval if we so needed it, and I think we could go one more year without that and just adjust that $10,000 to the food pantry,” Thompson said.

He also suggested that at the most, an individual organization can request up to $500 annually.

Finance Chair Tom Ptak said charity donations have always been a touchy subject, as it comes from taxpayer funds.

“We are the keeper of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “And here we are giving it away to organizations. That’s kind of tough. … IVAR does perform a service. That should be in there annually in our appropriations.”

After some discussion, the finance committee appropriated $3,000 annually for IVAR and approved the parameters toward a new ordinance.

Thompson requested a $10,000 one-time donation to IVFP. It failed on a 5-3 vote, with Aldermen Jerry Reynolds, John “Doc” Lavieri, Joseph Jeppson, Jordan Crane and T. “Boo” Herndon voting against the measure.

“Without knowing how the money is going to be spent, I’m going to go with nay,” Jeppson said.

Herndon then recommended a one-time $5,000 donation. It passed 6-2, with Reynold and Crane voting against.

The recommendation was brought to the council, and an ordinance will be drawn up for approval. The $5,000 potential donation to IVFP will be voted on during the next council meeting.