Salinas postpones vote on $100k Compass Church fireworks sponsorship

By Zoe Hunt

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    SALINAS, Calif. (KSBW) — The Salinas City Council announced Tuesday night that they were postponing the discussion on whether to award $100,000 to Compass Church to September.

The money is part of the city’s community sponsorship program, which awards organizations that have an event with a public and economic benefit to the community with sponsorship money.

Compass Church applied for the money for their Fourth of July Firework Extravaganza.

“If you added up all the vendors,” said Compass Church Senior Pastor Todd Anderson, “there was a tremendous amount of economic benefit to local small businesses, right here in Salinas. When you gather 15,000 people together, they all got to eat.”

Those against the sponsorship argue Compass Church’s event does not qualify for the money, since the policy’s eligibility criteria state the city will not award sponsorship to any church organization to promote religious purposes.

“You had Pastor Anderson go up and do a sermon for … 10, 15 minutes before the fireworks came on,” said Salinas resident Cary Swensen. “In my opinion, that is a religious event.”

However, Compass Church said they don’t see an issue. Their event was open to everyone, and they claim they will not use the money to promote religion.

“Whatever they award us, we will take those dollars, and we’ll use them for fireworks … for safety, for security and things of that nature,” said Anderson.

The entire community scholarship budget is $150,000. The cap an organization can receive through the sponsorship is $50,000. That is the amount Compass Church originally applied for; however, a city council member requested that the city look at awarding $100,000 instead.

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