By Eliza Ridgeway

City councilmembers affirmed charitable giving by the town of Los Altos Hills Feb. 16, defending the practice as integral to the community’s values and best interests.

The affirmation came in response to a proposal from the community relations committee, which recommended curtailing - or eliminating - the town’s community services grants.

“We object to the general policy of using town revenue to give to organizations not totally within the town,” committee member Ron Knapp said. “It’s not fair to taxpayers to take their money and distribute it to other places.”

The town is set to contribute about $54,000 to 13 non-profits in 2006. Four organizations were added to this year’s list, including the Los Altos Hills Horsemen’s Association and the American Red Cross.

While many of the groups serve a larger local population, they report town-specific statistics each year. The Los Altos Mediation Program reported that 24 percent of its assistance calls came from Hills residents. More than a quarter of the student population at the Community School of Music and Arts hails from the Hills, and the Support Network for Battered Women and Children served twice as many clients from Los Altos Hills as from Los Altos, relative to populations.

Councilmembers defended support of community service organizations as typical of all local towns. Los Altos supports local community services with $55,000 in grants from its general fund as well as $40,000 in federal grant money from the Community Development Block Grants.

“Just because this happens to be a wealthy paradise doesn’t mean that we don’t have communities right nearby that we should be involved with in some way,” Councilman Craig Jones said,

The council directed staff to add $50,000 to the 2007 budget for charitable donations, slightly less than 1 percent of the town’s annual general fund budget.

Councilman Mike O’Malley said, “For us as an extremely wealthy community to have a problem donating less than 1 percent of our budget is irresponsible.”