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Session 1915 March 29, 2004 Forestry programs. This policy is part of the recently adopted fees and charges policy. Eligibility will be based on federal income guidelines for school lunch programs with the amount of scholarship proportionate to income. All application information and documentation will be confidential. Ms. Welsch moved to approve, and Ms. Colquitt seconded the motion. Ms. Colquitt asked if Parks Director, Nancy MacCartney, had submitted information regarding how to obtain additional funds for scholarships, and Mr. Ollendorff responded yes. He said the draft pro forma for the recreation center and other projects was distributed and that most of the increases will occur next year. It is the draft policy under consideration, not the final form, which will occur during the budget process. Ms. Colquitt repeated that she understood about the draft, but was actually asking about outside scholarship money. Mr. Ollendorff said that the City is not counting on any outside funding; it can afford the scholarships with proposed fees for next year. Outside funds would be over and above this amount. Ms. Colquitt commented that she understood Ms. MacCartney was going to look for outside funding. Mr. Ollendorff said that even if that effort is not successful, he wants to assure the Council that there is sufficient funding for the proposed scholarships. Mr. Munkel asked how many individuals or families would be affected by the proposed change in policy. Mr. Ollendorff said there was no way to match the users with family income to ascertain this figure, no basis for a cost estimate. In past years, the amount budgeted was three or four thousand dollars. That money has rarely been utilized, and his assumption is that this results from the practice of disseminating the information about them through school counselors, and not advertising the scholarships widely. This is not necessarily a good measure for the future; it could be that fees in prior years were extremely Iow. There might not have been the need. It could be because the City did not actively market the scholarship funds. Mr. Wagner supports the scholarship program and believes that everyone in University City should be able to use the recreation program. He took issue with the wording in the policy, which reads "... we do not know how many people will be able to apply." The wording suggests there may not be enough money and suggests that people will be put on a waiting list. He finds that disturbing, and feels there should be a basis, a rule to provide a guideline, and enough money to support the guidelines. He would like the City to be certain about how the measure will be funded before we announce it. Mr. Lieberman said that he reviewed the figures submitted by Ms. MacCartney, and wondered if she had based them upon poverty guidelines that were not the latest figures? He had a copy of the most recent figures from the Federal Register, and they do not match the other set of figures. Ms. Welsch asked when the Council would know the exact amount of money available Page 7