The Center of Anna Maria Island is back into the red — but just barely.
The nonprofit was $3,506 in the red through April, with two months left to go in fiscal 2023-24, which closes June 30.
The community center fell into a $164,755.25 hole after the first three months of fiscal 2023-24 but proceeded to record a positive net income in five of the next seven months.
The nonprofit had dug out of the hole and was $26,731.12 in the black through March but a $30,237.25 loss for April brought it back down to earth.
That loss was largely due to middling program income and high expenses despite $25,806.64 in fundraising income for the month.
The center raised $66,238.50 in program revenue in April, which is a little less than the monthly average for the year, but it spent $49,787.85 on program costs.
That is the second-highest monthly program cost total of fiscal 2023-24, only behind an outlier $70,790.20 in July 2023.
The center also racked up $69,042.60 in general and administrative expenses in April, more than offsetting the month’s $25,806.64 fundraising income.
In the meantime, the city of Anna Maria is mulling an annual funding request from the nonprofit.
Executive director Chris Culhane attended the May 23 city meeting to request $78,000 — including $50,000 the center failed to collect last year.
City commissioners unanimously voted last April to approve a $50,000 donation from the municipal contingency fund toward installing new air conditioning at the center facility, 407 Magnolia Ave.
However, the nonprofit failed to collect the $50,000 before the end of the city’s fiscal 2023-24, which ended Oct. 1, 2023.
Mayor Dan Murphy clarified that the city notified the center in April 2023 to use the funds by September 2023 or they would no longer be available, but the nonprofit did not follow through.
Culhane said the center could not find enough money to back up the city’s funds toward air conditioning improvements until the Bradenton-based Bishop-Parker Foundation recently pledged to match the municipality’s $50,000.
The work is projected to cost $132,000-$149,000.
Now that the nonprofit has found funding, Culhane said it is hoping the city can fulfill its original $50,000 donation, as well as chip in another $28,000.
Murphy asked commissioners to give him time to review the municipal budget with staff and consider if the city could fulfill the center’s $78,000 request.
He said he would return to their next meeting with the results of his review.
“I firmly believe that improving our own property is the right thing to do,” Murphy added.
Commissioners reached a consensus on Murphy’s recommendation to table the request so he could review the city’s budget.
The next city meeting will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at city hall, 10005 Gulf Drive.
Bradenton Beach commissioners also discussed fundraising for the Center of Anna Maria Island during their June 6 meeting.
“I figured out that we didn’t send any money to the community center and we had approved, at one point, $5,000 a year,” said Commissioner Ralph Cole, the city’s liaison to the nonprofit.
“So now I am bringing it back up to see if we indeed wanted to donate to the community center,” Cole said. “We had $5000 approved, and we took $750 of it and gave it to Annie Silver. So that leaves whatever’s left in our donation.”
However, Commissioner Debbie Scaccianoce, liaison to the Annie Silver Community Center, said the Bradenton Beach-based center could benefit from a larger donation.
“I think Anna Maria has a lot more funding sources available to them than Annie Silver does,” she said. “I would like to see more money from us go directly to Annie Silver instead of through the Anna Maria community center.”
Mayor John Chappie asked the city clerk to put the issue on a meeting agenda so representatives from both centers could make their appeals.
