The City of McMinnville is well on its way to producing a budget for the fiscal year 2025-2026.

On Tuesday afternoon, the city’s Finance Committee met to discuss nonprofit appropriations, among other budgetary items. In a Board of Mayor and Alderman prior to the budget season, it was decided to limit the amount of money given to nonprofits to equal 4% of the revenue taken in by property tax. This parameter gave the committee $234,400 to dole out after deliberating over the nonprofits which applied for funding.

Of those who applied, a handful are standing fixtures of the city’s budget and must be paid out. McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency (UCHRA), Upper Cumberland Development District (UCDD) and the Magness Library are among the organizations who must always receive funding from the city. In the case of UCHRA and UCDD, the amount is adjusted each year according to a formula based on a per capita number. This year’s contribution for dues totaled:

• UCHRA: $4,274

• UCDD: $4,275

• Chamber of Commerce: $5,500

• Magness Library (maintenance of effort): $68,000

After removing the above $82,049, the committee was left with $152,351 to be awarded to other nonprofits which had applied for funding.

This year’s applicants include: Warren County Black History Museum, McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, Emergency Food Bank, Families in Crisis, Homeless of McMinnville Effort, Magness Library, Main Street McMinnville, Meals on Wheels, Rescue Squad, McMinnville Warren County Senior Center and Young Men United.

The committee discussed the nonprofits before finalizing their options. Alderman and committee member Steve Harvey suggested assigning funding to those who did not receive money last budget cycle, which left the Emergency Food Bank and Meals on Wheels. Mayor Ryle Chastain expressed reluctance in including Meals on Wheels, who was requesting less money than in the past three years and is not a guaranteed recipient of funding from Back to the Strip.

“I just still have trouble with Meals on Wheels. Organizationally, from a local standpoint, with what the directors getting paid what they do,” Chastain said. “I’ve been sent pictures of family members of recipients who received expired food and things like that. I don’t know, I just don’t feel good about it.”

Chastain mentioned other complaints brought to him by locals, including reviews the portion sizes were not appropriate and the quality of the food was less than expected.

Last year, Meals on Wheels was one of three nonprofits which were originally left with no funding from the city in the original draft of the appropriations. The other two nonprofits were Main Street McMinnville and the McMinnville Warren County Senior Center. Of the three, only Meals on Wheels was not awarded money.

In addition to the city’s dues, the following nonprofits were earmarked for suggested funding after deliberation:

• Main Street McMinnville requested $50,000 and received $35,000

• Rescue Squad requested $16,469 and received $7,425

• Young Men United requested $20,000 and received $5,000

• Black History Museum requested $10,000 and received $5,000

• McMinnville Warren County Senior Center requested $67,000 and received $40,000

• Families in Crisis requested $12,000 and received $5,000

• Senior Center requested $35,000 and received $25,000

• HOME requested and received $7,000

• Magness Library requested $25,000 and received $22,000

• Emergency Food Bank requested $2,000 and received $1,000

The budget is not yet final and the proposed nonprofit allocations are only recommendations at this stage — they are subject to change and will not be adopted unless it passes two successful reads before the Board of a Mayor and Alderman as well as a public hearing. The first read for the budget is May 27 and the public hearing and second read is expected to be held on June 10.