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GREENSBORO — Guilford County tax revenue that would go to community groups for arts, economic development and other services could fund about a quarter of the salaries the county cut this year through layoffs.

The money could replace cuts to county libraries. Or help other government services in a year that the Board of Commissioners focused on accountability and efficiency.

Instead, $1.34 million is proposed for groups such as the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, East Market Street Development Corp., Hayes-Taylor YMCA and others. Commissioners agree that the money helps vital community services carry on, but some argue that the money also helps solicit commissioners’ votes to pass the county’s annual budget and could be better spent elsewhere.

In addition, the county has ignored its own policy in funding some of those groups.

As the county moves ahead with its budget process, the proposed $537,917 increase in funding to community groups for 2009-10 is coming under fire from some commissioners.

“We’re cutting core programs. We’re cutting loyal and hard-working employees,” said Commissioner Paul Gibson, who said the groups that are funded may be upstanding but he questioned how some appeared on the budget.

“It’s a big boondoggle,” Gibson said, calling the community group funding “local pork,” a term some use to describe projects that elected officials push to receive funds.

Commissioner Billy Yow also has questioned the community group expense.

Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston and Vice Chairman Steve Arnold consistently hit upon the mantras of efficiency and accountability in government, but the efficient and accountable ways that some groups are slated to get public funds appears shaky. Alston and Arnold have defended funding the groups.

The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, which historically has received direct funding of no more than $45,000 since 2005, would have its funding doubled from $25,000 to $50,000 in 2009-10.

That group didn’t apply for money from Guilford County this year.

And the theatre troupe receives some county money anyway. The High Point Area Arts Council grants the festival $70,000 to $100,000 each year. Private donations, state funds and other money goes into the pool that the arts council uses to hand out grants, but the council also received $75,000 in the 2009-10 county budget proposal.

In a possible situation involving redundant funding for AIDS testing and education, the Nia Community Action Center would get $25,000 next year. Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency has received a county grant through the public health department of $123,000 since at least 2005 to do a similar task.

In 2003, Commissioner Bruce Davis helped funnel $25,000 a piece to Nia and the Shakespeare Festival through no-vote grants.

Davis said he did not push funding for those groups in this year’s budget or make a deal that funding would secure his vote to pass the budget.

And he referenced how community organizations got into County Manager Brenda Jones Fox’s budget recommendation.

“The accountability part is built in,” he said.

Nonprofit groups that want county money must submit an application with tax-exempt documentation, a list of the board of directors, and a certified audit. The policy was set by the commissioners in 2007. Although they don’t have to follow their own rules, the commissioners appear to be ignoring their own standards.

The Hayes-Taylor YMCA, which would receive $300,000 to go toward a new facility, did not include an audit or its list of board members in its application.

Nor did Joseph’s House, which would get $50,000 for operating expenses.

Nor did the East Market Street Development Corp., which would see its funding double from $25,000 to $50,000.

“This is the manager’s budget,” said Commissioner Carolyn Coleman, who generally supports funding for community groups. “I don’t know how she arrived at the increase.”

For the Shakespeare Festival, Fox said she based her decision on “historical funding.”

If applied similarly to other organizations that didn’t ask for money in 2009-10, groups such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Greensboro Urban Ministry, the Boys & Girls Club and others also could receive funding based on previous county grants.

“I’m going to trust the manager,” said Commissioner Linda Shaw. “I’m going to vote for the budget.”

Arnold, who was one of the budget’s main architects, plainly says that funding for community organizations gets commissioners to approve a budget.

“It’s all about the entire big picture, to put those six votes together,” Arnold said. “That’s where the justification for the Shakespeare Festival comes from.”

For many of the groups that would receive funding, whether they submitted a full application or not, Arnold added that he believes there are six votes among the 11 commissioners to approve that money on “any given day.”

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com