There has been a lot of comment about the decision by the City of Fishers not to fund the Fishers Freedom Festival in 2018, but the city has told LarryInFishers that it is prepared to “fill the void” if necessary.
The Fishers City Council Non-Profit Committee, consisting of council members Cecilia Coble, Brad DeReamer and Pete Peterson, reviewed funding applications from 25 organizations requesting city funds. The committee recommends funding 13 of those groups.
It should be noted that the Indiana Department of Local Finance (DLGF) is distributing more then $600,000 less in County Option Income Tax (COIT) to the City of Fishers than earlier forecasts indicated. Members of the Fishers City Council Finance Committee said there would be some reduction in the amount of money available for the non-profits with less many coming in than originally projected. The original plan was to provide a total of $331,500 to be split up among the chosen organizations. That figure is likely to be reduced.
Fishers Freedom Festival Executive Director Jennifer Kehl told LarryInFishers the festival board and volunteer committees will decide by the end of October whether to have the Freedom Festival in 2018 without city funding.
In the meantime, the City of Fishers issued a statement saying, “If the Fishers Freedom Festival Committee chooses not to host the Festival next year, the City will fill that void. The City remains committed to bringing residents together by carrying on traditions such as the parade and others our residents love.”
When asked why the Freedom Festival was not selected to receive city funds next year, the statement from the City of Fishers says the non-profit committee “took a holistic view of the nonprofits that currently served our community, weighed the impact of each of those nonprofits and prioritized the funds accordingly.”
The bottom line here is this….if the Freedom Festival committee decides not to host the summer event in 2018, the City of Fishers has made a commitment to “fill the void.”
We will wait for further developments.