Dixon considers $350K for Dixon theater, $140K for other nonprofits

DIXON – As it gets closer to finalizing its fiscal 2025 budget, the Dixon City Council has been deciding how much to give each nonprofit that has made a formal budget request over the past several weeks.

While none of those have become official yet – the council must take a formal vote on the budget – the dollar amounts that will be given to each organization are beginning to take shape. The allocation discussions took place Wednesday, March 6, during a session in which the council informally agreed to put $350,000 in the budget for The Dixon: Historic Theatre.

Other nonprofits and the potential funding they will receive based on council discussion include:

• Lee County Industrial Development Association, $50,000. LCIDA promotes, develops and facilitates industrial, commercial and business enterprises in Lee County. LCIDA requested $50,000 from the city during fiscal 2025, the same as the fiscal 2024 allotment.
• The Sauk Valley Community College Impact Program, $25,000. Under the program, high school students who meet certain criteria earn free tuition and fees in exchange for completing volunteer service. The city gave the program $25,000 in fiscal 2024; this year’s request also was for $25,000.
• The Whiteside Area Career Center CEO program, $2,500. Councilmembers Mike Venier, Dennis Considine, Mary Oros and Chris Bishop said they wanted the amount set at $2,500, which is greater than the $1,000 ask. CEO is an 11-year-old program that teaches students to become business leaders, entrepreneurs and managers by having them learn from local leaders. The program received $1,000 from the city of Dixon in fiscal 2024 and was seeking that amount or more, if the City Council so chose.
• The Next Picture Show, $25,000, with an emphasis on making roof and other structural repairs. A 20-year-old community fine arts center in downtown Dixon, TNPS was asking for $30,000 to help pay for the gallery’s overhead as well as repairs, maintenance and programming. The group received $15,000 during the current fiscal year. Oros pointed out there is a roof problem and that the city’s allocation should go to those repairs before being used on programming. “If we’re going to designate this allocation of funding, we’d like to have it go to infrastructure,” Oros said.
• Dixon Stage Left, $5,000. Dixon Stage Left has been in downtown Dixon for 10 years and has six full-time employees. It is the only local theater that produces and casts its own shows that are performed by local adults. It also partners with Canterbury Arts, The Next Picture Show, The Dixon: Historic Theatre and Rendezvous Arts. The organization also helps to bring in professional acts, including the recent visit by Franc D’Ambrosio, the longest running portrayer of the Phantom in the Broadway musical “The Phantom of the Opera” and who led master class workshops at Dixon High School. Dixon Stage Left requested $5,000 to help replace a known 50% funding reduction from one of its biggest benefactors. It is the first time the organization has asked for city funding, according to a March 4 presentation to the council.
• Dixon Sister Cities Association, $6,000. Thirty-two delegates from Herzberg, Germany, will visit Dixon in July 2024, when it will tour places that include the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home, Raynor Garage Doors and KSB Hospital and attend a meet-and-greet at The Next Picture Show. Much of the funding will go toward a July 25 dinner with the delegates to celebrate the 25-year sisterhood partnership between the two cities.
• The Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone, $26,508.

The budget will be completed in April.