WATERLOO -- Two neighborhood centers serving low-income residents are decrying a potential loss of public funding from Black Hawk County next year.

Supporters of the Jesse Cosby Neighborhood Center and Eastside Ministerial Alliance community center packed the county Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to request reconsideration of agency grants recommended by a subcommittee last week.

The county's Agency Funding Board had proposed giving both organizations smaller grants than they received last year from landfill profits earmarked annually for human service agency support.

"Although those funds are not promised to agencies, we already operate on a shoestring budget," said Sherry Roberts, director of the Cosby Center. "This cut will ultimately result in the demise of the agency. Maybe not now … but eventually."

The Cosby Center received a $10,000 grant from the solid waste funding in the current year but is slated to get $5,000 in fiscal year 2007-08. The EMA center received $24,000 this year and is recommended to receive $20,000 next year.

"Cutting that is really detrimental to the people we serve," said the Rev. Joseph Baring, an EMA board member.

Supervisor John Miller, who serves on the Agency Funding Board, said he would ask the committee members about reconvening to reconsider its recommendation, which is slated to be voted upon by the Board of Supervisors Dec. 5. But he emphasized any decision to provide more money to Cosby or EMA would take grant funds away from other human service agencies.

"We had $372,000 in requests for $175,000," Miller said. "We struggled with all of this and did the best we could with the available funding."

Miller said the annual solid waste grant process is not a guaranteed source of revenue for any recipient. The grant requests are considered fresh each year.

"I'm hearing that because we didn't fund to last year's level then we cut," he said. "That's not quite accurate."

Miller said grant recipients each year are urged to direct the money to direct client services, such as utility or rent assistance, and not rely on the money to support basic operations or salaries -- a policy specifically created to avoid putting the agencies at risk if they don't get solid waste funds the following year.

Supervisors Leon Mosley and Robert Smith did not attend Tuesday's board meeting.

Contact Tim Jamison at (319) 291-1577 or tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.