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The Pleasant Garden senior luncheon received more money Tuesday night after the Town Council approved adding $1,877 to the budget.

The proposal, one of two offered by council members, will keep the program running at its current level. Councilman Bob Wyrick offered the proposal. Mayor Anne Hice’s proposal would have added $1,477 to the budget.

Councilmen Rick Wallace and Wyrick said funding the program at the level needed shouldn’t have been an issue. The men had proposed cuts to the program during the budget season to help balance the budget. Wyrick said the information council received earlier in the year wasn’t thorough enough for council to make an informed decision, so the program was underfunded.

“It was a sad thing that a citizen had to give $2,400 (to the program) when it’s our responsibility to fund it,” Wallace said.

The council returned a donation to a donor last month after the town attorney said the town could not guarantee anonymity to the donor.

The council also didn’t want to get into the habit of relying on donations from citizens to run town programs.

In other action, the council:

• Approved changing the council’s organizational meeting to the first Tuesday in December to coincide with the council’s monthly meeting. Wallace and Wyrick didn’t support the change because neither supported changing the monthly meetings from the second Tuesday to the first Tuesday.
• Approved two budget amendments: the first showing a $100 donation from State Farm insurance agent Matt Rio for refreshments at a recreation board program on Social Security in August, and the second subtracting $15,733 in revenues from the beer and wine excise tax and the same from the expenditures in the contingency/disaster fund. The state is shorting the town 2/3 of its budget, leaving the town with only $7,867. Wallace and Wyrick didn’t support taking money from the disaster fund.
• Learned that a blood drive and health fair would be held 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at town hall, 4920 Alliance Church Road. To register, call the town hall at 674-3002 or visit www.membersforlife.org/cbsr/schedule/login.php. Sponsor code is 14162.
• Authorized the town clerk to request proposals for the annual audit and cleaning services and to seek a trademark for the town’s seal.
• Approved a memo of understanding with Guilford County to develop and maintain Voluntary Agricultural Districts programs. Once the town incorporated, properties that were designated agriculture were no longer under the county’s jurisdiction. This agreement allows the county to administer the program.
• Asked the town attorney and town clerk to draft an ethics policy.
• Discussed a process in which town council members must also fill out a “request for documents” form, as citizens do. Council member Chris Johnson requested the change so that a paper trail could be maintained for all requests.

The next Town Council meeting will be 7 p.m. Oct. 13. The meeting was changed because of election primaries Oct. 6.

Contact E.A. Seagraves at 883-4422, Ext. 241, or elizabeth. seagraves@news-record.com