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County OKs nearly $200,000 for Ramona

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Passage of San Diego County’s 2016-17 budget includes $198,905 in Community Enhancement money for five groups in town.

Community Enhancement money comes from the county’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue.

Ramona Chamber of Commerce will receive $75,500, Ramona Outdoor Community Center Inc. will receive $53,365, and the Ramona HEART Mural Project Corporation will get $35,040. Ramona Pioneer Historical Society will receive $20,000, and $15,000 will go to Ramona Town Hall.

Each county supervisor had a $974,000 Community Enhancement budget in addition to previous year funding that was canceled or returned. In District 2, represented by Supervisor Dianne Jacob, that was an additional $10,765. Each supervisor decides how much to give to each group requesting funds, and the five-member board of supervisors ratifies the amounts as part of its approval of the budget.

Although TOT money comes from lodging facilities in the unincorporated part of the county, organizations in incorporated cities are also eligible for funding.

Each county supervisor also has a $2 million discretionary Neighborhood Reinvestment Program budget, so some Community Enhancement requests can be fulfilled by that source. Most organizations were awarded less than what they requested.

Ramona Chamber of Commerce said it will use its Community Enhancement money for its annual Community Awards Gala, the Ramona Open Studios Tour, the Ramona Country Fair, the Safe Merchants Trick or Treat event, the annual Christmas tree lighting, Casino Night activities, Cruise Main Street, and other events, and may also use some of the money for new maps to promote tourism in the area. The amount received is less than the $95,000 the chamber requested but more than the $60,000 grant for 2015-16.

Ramona Outdoor Community Center includes the Fred Grand Arena where the Ramona Rodeo and other rodeo competitions are held. The cattle pens need refurbishing, and the Community Enhancement grant will pay to construct metal replacement pens. The center, which did not receive funding last year, requested $124,000 from the 2016-17 budget.

The murals that Community Enhancement money will pay for are a historic photo of the interior of the building at 629 Main St. that will be on the east of that building, a 1950s vintage fire truck and equipment on the south wall of the Firehouse Glass building at 222 Ninth St., the location of Ramona’s first fire station in 1952, and a mural potentially promoting Ramona’s Hispanic heritage on the west wall of 680 Main St., which houses La Cocina restaurant. The funding matches the amount requested by Ramona HEART Mural Project Corporation, which received $37,920 last year.

Ramona Pioneer Historical Society will use its allocation for expenses related to the operation of the Guy B. Woodward Museum including accounting fees, payroll, insurance, office equipment and supplies, archival storage materials, advertising, a security alarm system, and upkeep of the museum grounds and equipment. The Ramona Pioneer Historical Society had requested $21,000. It received $17,000 last year.

Ramona Town Hall Inc. is restoring the historical building at 729 Main St. The county grant is what the nonprofit requested. It will pay for durable weather coating and landscaping for the exterior front facade. Ramona Town Hall did not receive Community Enhancement money last year.

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