Tooele Gun Club’s generator went kaput, leaving them in the dark, according to Bill Dixon.
But the Tooele County Recreation Special Service District came to the rescue Tuesday night with an $8,000 grant for the club to buy a reconditioned generator, according to Dixon, chairman of the Recreation Special Service District board.
The board awarded $75,000 to 15 projects during their meeting in the basement of the Tooele County Building.
The board received 25 applications for grants that added up to $286,778, according to Dixon.
“It’s hard to decide who to fund when we have so little money compared to the requests,” Dixon said. “But we try to remember that the board was set up to fund recreation for outlying communities and unincorporated areas that don’t have a big tax base.”
Prior to Tuesday night’s meeting, each of the five members of the board had read through the grant applications and ranked then from one through 25.
After rank ordering the applications by their combined scores, the board started at the top and worked down the list.
Some applications were fully funded, some were partially funded. When they reached $75,000 in grants, the money available for 2017, the board stopped.
Geographically, the approved grants stretch from Grantsville to Rush Valley.
Along with the $8,000 for the gun club, the board approved $10,000 to help Stansbury Park replace the fence around its pool. Stansbury Park will also get $3,000 for drinking fountains.
“The fence is 40 years old and it’s a safety issue,” said Kip Porter, a Recreation Special Service District board member.
Rush Valley received a $9,000 grant to pay for improvements to its tennis court. Grantsville City got $8,000 for improvements to Cherry Street Park.
The town of Stockton was awarded two grants, one for $7,000 to complete the town’s Veterans’ Memorial Park. The other grant was for $2,300 for appliances for the pavilion in Stockton’s Alex Baker Memorial Park.
Tooele City received a $6,000 grant to buy tables and chairs for community events. The board approved $5,000 to fund activities for the Tooele Senior Center.
Ibapah will get $5,000 to buy gravel for its town’s pavilion. Tooele County will get $2,000 to install around 10 new pedestals for RV hookups at Deseret Peak Complex.
The livestock show at Deseret Peak was awarded $2,000 to buy new panels for the show. The Tooele First Robotics Competition team will get $2,000 for materials.
The Erda Wrestler’s 4-H Club asked for and received a $728 grant to rebuild its bleachers.
Rush Valley Rider’s Rodeo requested $7,500 to buy bleachers. The board approved the grant with the condition that the town of Rush Valley accepts ownership of the bleachers. The rodeo is a private organization and the board was concerned about setting a precedent of funding non-public organizations.
The Tooele County Recreation Special Service District was organized by the Tooele County Commission in 1989. At the time, the Recreation Special Service District was needed to be eligible to collect the county’s share of mineral excise tax and state payment in lieu of taxes.
The county receives around $300,000 from the two sources each year, according to Dixon.
Until two years ago, the county commissioners sent the full $300,000 to the Recreation Special Service District board for allocation for recreation grants.
The county commission reviewed state guidelines for the excise and state PILT money and found out they had the option of spending the revenue on recreation and transportation, according to Dixon.
“After that the commissioners sent half of the funds to the road department,” Dixon said.
For the last two years the Recreation Service District Board has only awarded half of the amount allocated to them, or $75,000, which has allowed them to build a reserve fund of $150,000.
“The way the timing worked, we took applications in April, made our decisions about grants in May, the groups did their work in June and July and wanted to get paid,” Dixon said. “But the county didn’t get the funds from the state until August.”
By building up a balance of $150,000, the board will be able to fund the grants out of money that is already in the bank, according to Dixon.
The Recreation Special Service District board consists of five members appointed by the county commission.
The current members of the board are Scott Campbell, Mark McKendrick, Kurt Steadman, Dixon and Porter.