Mayor Copling and certain aldermen want to apply for a matching funds grant so they can continue buying park stuff for Tangle Creek Park. They have not yet announced the size of the grant; at a meeting of the Park Commission on September 4, they talked about $500,000. They could also be considering a lesser amount.
Some of them are calling the grant funds “free money.” There is no such thing as free money. Adults in the room know this. Free money invariably comes with expensive strings…and the mayor is not telling you about those strings. Matching funds is one of them.
Matching funds is a common requirement in the world of grants. This grant requires a dollar-for-dollar match. If we receive a $500,000 grant, the city must pony up $500,000 of its own money, etc.
Obviously, the matching funds must come from somewhere. I think the people of Cuba should know where the money will come from before we apply for the grant. So I asked this question of the Mayor this past Friday (Oct. 3). His answer: “I’m not worried about the money.”
When the guy who is spending the money is not worried about where it will come from, then perhaps the guys who are paying the bills (We, the People) had better start worrying. Remember, this is the Mayor who has already this year spent $400,000 on a single piece of playground equipment and committed Cuba to the McBride project at an unknown cost but estimated at anywhere from $1-5 million.
Come to the next meeting of the Board of Alderman and ask where the money is coming from. Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6pm at City Hall. If you can't come to meetings, call each of your two aldermen and ask them where the money is coming from. Don't you think you have the right to know?
Jackie Hunt
Cuba
