WILMINGTON — At the May 18 Wilmington City Council meeting, Brad Reynolds, human resources director and member of the City Revitalization Grant committee, spoke to the council about updates regarding the grant.
Reynolds told the council that the committee met on Tuesday, May 16, when they revised the application to make it more “user friendly” as he described it.
“We’ve set meeting schedules now for the coming year. It’ll be the second Thursday of March, June, and September, we’ll get this out to everybody at 10 a.m.,” said Reynolds. “That way people who are looking for funding will know the dates. The most important date will be that one in September. Because that allows people to know if they’re going to get funding for the following year. That way they can develop budgets.”
To this point, Reynolds said, the committee received one application from The Murphy Theatre, and it was approved. He advised they didn’t have enough money in the funds so it will be put into two different payments. The second will be taking place in July.
At the March 2 Wilmington City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution that authorized the committee to adopt an application guide for the grant program. The resolution allows the committee to manage grant payments to non-profits and government entities out of the hotel lodging tax.
The money from the hotel lodging tax goes to financially support projects and initiatives that benefit the citizens of Wilmington. This can be done through entertainment, events, business, and downtown growth.
The amount of money available for the grant changes depending on the amount of the quarterly tax that comes into the city.
Reynolds told the News Journal back in March, “Potential applicants are limited to government and non-profit entities located within the Wilmington city limits. Organizations or businesses not considered governmental or non-profit are ineligible for grant funding.”
Reach John Hamilton at 937-382-2574
