Mayor Will Look For More Special Event Money

Mayor Sal Panto says he wants more time to look for money for the city's special events.

Last month, from various events -- the Shad Tournament, Heritage Day, the Peace Candle lighting -- made their case for city funding. This year, the city had $30,000 in requests from these events, but only $10,000 to work with.*

Council was supposed to decide at the end of February about how to allocate the money at the end of February, but Panto said Wednesday that members had requested more time.

Now, he said he wants to look for more money. Council members were agreeable, to a point. They want these events to get extra funding, but would like to know where it's coming from as well.

Panto said a likely source is the $250,000 the city has saved by not filling certain positions. 

Councilman Michael Fleck expressed some reservations.

"If there’s savings, why not use it for things that we know we can’t fund," such as the program. "Or the that we may want to save money for next year."

Vice-mayor El Warner said this wouldn't be a matter of a huge amount of money.

"Even going from $10,000 to $15,000 might mean that there’s an event that was going to get nothing that gets a thousand," she said. Warner also noted that it's not as if council was financing these events on its own.

Also Wednesday:

• Council honored the organizers of last month's , and Panto said he's hoping for a repeat of the event next year.
• The city should be ready to vote on its same-sex partners benefits ordinance soon. If approved, Easton would be in the state to give gay and lesbian employees domestic partner benefits.
• Council appointed Berkheimer as its delinquent per capita tax collector. Fleck and Councilwoman Sandra Vulcano objected, saying the Bangor-based firm had a reputation for bad customer service. Responded Warner: "If you’re that delinqent, maybe you deserve bad customer service."