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Editorial: Funding allows groups to thrive in recession

It’s a win-win situation in this kind of economy when a city government can dish up some community goodwill without severely impacting its bottom line.

Three local groups are certainly thinking more fondly of the Puyallup City Council after it approved a $20,000 reserve allocation last week. Valley Arts United, the Daffodil Festival and the Puyallup Main Street Association, which helps construct the city’s community float, needed those funds for 2010 activities.

The $10,000 to arts programs and $5,000 apiece to the Daffodilians and float committee represent a significant chunk of change in a recession. Less funding to Valley Arts United would likely have meant reduced advertising and art purchases, further impacting the program’s effectiveness down the road.

Likewise, the Daffodil Festival and community float organizers were in similar straits. Most of the community already knows that several months ago, festival officials were questioning the festival’s viability beyond 2010. Daffodilians aren’t receiving everything they requested from Puyallup, but they’re closer than before to balancing its books and appear to have a brighter future.

Puyallup has nearly $1 million in lodging tax reserves that can go to community groups. It’s both understandable and responsible for governments to be penny-pinchers in tight times but this situation represented an exception to the rule.