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Brea : Council Hopes to Trim City Foundation Budget

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The Brea Foundation, which has grown fatter than City Council members ever envisioned it would when they created the quasi-public group four years ago, may find itself with a slimmer budget.

The nonprofit organization--which was designed to fund city arts programs, recreation and other human services--has gotten so big that the council will attempt to renegotiate the city’s funding agreement Monday.

The foundation’s budget this year is $250,000, more than half of which is from ground-lease payments from a soon-to-be-built Holiday Inn at the Brea Mall. The foundation, which also receives money from other leased land and from industrial development bonds, returned $112,000 of its revenues to city coffers, per its agreement with the city. This is the first year the foundation has received funds, and it has yet to make a grant, although several nonprofit groups have applied for funds.

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But council members, who met in a special session Tuesday afternoon, think more of the foundation’s revenues should be returned to the city.

“The foundation should run very skinny, very lean,” said Councilwoman Norma Hicks. She said the foundation was meant to take pressure off the city by using various tax-free sources revenue for arts and recreation and was not to be “a Santa Claus” to a lot of people.

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