MONTICELLO – A split Sullivan County Legislature voted 5 to 4 to require a bit more annual accountability from outside agencies that receive county funds.
Kitty Vetter presented the measure in committee earlier this month, and defended it after it was approved at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the full legislature.
“I believe that there’s a number of things that go on in the county and I do believe that it’s important that we give money,” Vetter said. “However, it should be given more like a grant kind of thing to make sure that things are taken care of and done in a proper way.”
Vetter’s proposal requires an annual presentation, in person or in writing, from each agency, detailing how it spends the money it receives and how county residents benefit from the funding.
Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson, a Democrat, praised Republican Vetter’s way of properly working up the proposal, in various committees, but, Samuelson was sharply critical of the proposal itself, saying it is redundant.
“It’s a legislative endeavor to give our community services that we are not able to provide by giving support to those agencies,” Samuelson said. “Again, I believe that at this point in time, especially, we should be doing all we possibly can to build the community up and to offer as many possible services as we can.”
Samuelson said the accountability is already in place and has been for years. He sees this as a possible disincentive to getting those groups to be as willing to work with the county.
