The Volusia ECHO Advisory Committee is recommending the County Council approve grants for eight requests submitted for the latest funding cycle.
Of the nine applications for ECHO funding, the panel gave passing scores to all but one of them. ECHO is an acronym for Environmental, Cultural, Historic and Outdoor-Recreational, referring to the county government’s program of supporting the acquisition, development or preservation of assets classified under one or more of those categories. The ECHO program supports local governments and nonprofit organizations that guarantee public access to the resources that receive support.
The ECHO Advisory Committee votes on each of the requests, and a minimum score of 80 is required from a combined number of committee members to secure a recommendation for an ECHO grant. The County Council will have the final say on the grants.
The proposed projects just approved by the committee are:
— Alexander Island, Phase 1, submitted by the City of DeBary, $2.5 million
— Historic Seville School Restoration, submitted by the Seville Village Improvement Association, $214,779
— Sports Complex Softball Quad, submitted by the City of Ormond Beach, $454,479
— Nova Community Park improvements, submitted by the City of Ormond Beach, $216,326
— City Center Playground improvements, submitted by the City of Port Orange, $150,000
— Hawks Park, pickleball court and improvements, submitted by the City of Edgewater, $600,000
— Volusia/Flagler Family YMCA, athletic fields and playground, submitted by the Deltona Family YMCA, $428,500
— Stetson University, Lake Beresford shoreline restoration and public access, enhancements of the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center, $600,000
The projects’ grant requests amount to $5,164,084.
The one request that failed to receive the ECHO Advisory Committee’s recommendation for approval came from the City of New Smyrna Beach, which had asked for $148,825 to expand the Skate Park.
The funding requests, as approved by the committee, will be considered by the County Council at its March 19 meeting. The council may accept, reject or modify the grant requests.
Volusia ECHO is a voter-approved program of supporting quality-of-life assets by an add-on ad valorem tax of 1/5 mill, or 20 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value. The special ECHO tax generates approximately $11 million per year.
The program was first approved in the 2000 general election for a 20-year period. A majority of the county’s voters approved the extension of the ECHO program for another 20 years in the 2020 general election.
