Eight groups awarded funds from county

Eight Fallbrook organizations will receive a total of $160,000 of Community Enhancement Program funds from the County of San Diego during Fiscal Year 2007-08.

The funding approved June 19 when the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the county’s 2007-08 budget includes $3,203,000 from Transient Occupancy Tax revenue. Although the revenue is only from TOT money collected from lodging facilities in the unincorporated portion of the county, organizations in incorporated cities are eligible for funding and the Fifth Supervisorial District will receive $640,000 in Community Enhancement funding, including the $160,000 for the Fallbrook organizations.

The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce received $85,000, the largest allocation of any organization in the Fifth Supervisorial District and tied with the Julian Chamber of Commerce for the largest award other than to a regional convention and visitors bureau. The chamber, which had also received $85,000 for 2006-07, had requested $256,541 in 2007-08 TOT funding. The chamber’s plans for the full requested amount would have spent $66,541 on advertising, $60,000 on the Avocado Festival, $50,000 apiece for operations of the information disbursement office and for economic development of existing business operations, and $30,000 for the Fallbrook Christmas Parade.

The Fallbrook Village Association will receive $45,000, equaling its 2006-07 grant. The Fallbrook Village Association had requested $100,000 which would have covered $30,000 for an

outdoor reception area and destination sculpture garden at the Art Center, $25,000 for an electrical retrofit and outdoor lighting at the Art Campus, $20,000 to install a handicapped bathroom at the Art Center, $15,000 for advertising and marketing support for major shows and a membership campaign, and $10,000 for general support to the Fallbrook Area Visitors Bureau.

The $10,000 awarded to the Fallbrook Art Association is equal to that group’s 2006-07 Community Enhancement funding. The Fallbrook Art Association had requested a total of $12,000 or $5,000 for the Spring and Fall art shows, $2,000 for ten one-day workshops, $2,000 for the Plane Air competition, $1,500 for ten public art demonstrations, and $1,500 for two Downtown Fallbrook art festivals.

The Fallbrook Area Visitors Bureau, a new organization which did not seek 2006-07 Community Enhancement funding, will receive $5,000. The Fallbrook Area Visitors Bureau had requested $165,000 consisting of $100,000 to acquire land for a visitors center with public restrooms, $30,000 for operating and administrative expenses for the visitors center, $15,000 for special events funding, $15,000 for visitor brochures and a DVD along with a Web site, and $5,000 to advertise and promote Fallbrook.

The Live Oak Park Coalition received $5,000, which is what that organization received in 2006-07. The coalition had sought $17,500 to repair and improve the picnic and cover table areas, to replace tables, and to make improvements for disabled access.

The Fallbrook Historical Society Museum’s allocation of $4,000 was down from the $8,000 received last year, although the county’s discretionary funds also include Community Projects funds and some Community Enhancement Program requests can be fulfilled by that source. The Fallbrook Historical Society had asked for $15,000 of TOT revenue, including $10,000 for cabinetry for its interpretive center to house farm tools and implements for the region. The June 19 allocations of Community Projects funds included $30,000 to the Fallbrook Historical Society contingent on the society first raising matching funds; that money would construct a barn to display farm equipment. The remainder of the society’s Community Enhancement Program request would have covered $3,000 for signage at the interpretative center and $2,000 for landscaping at the center.

The Fallbrook Music Society, which received $8,000 of Community Enhancement funds in 2006-07, received $3,000 for 2007-08 along with $30,000 of Community Projects funds allocated May 15. The Community Projects funding is for Symphony Pops on the Green

costs while the $10,000 requested TOT amount earmarked $8,000 for the Liszt Chamber Orchestra concert in September 2007 and the Camerata Ireland Orchestra concert in March 2008.

The $3,000 received by the Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society equals both its 2006-07 amount and its 2007-08 request. The society will spend $1,200 for a mastodon shelf for a scale model mastodon, $1,000 for a gem collection display case, and $800 for additional signage and display racks for gift shop displays.