A statue of Jorgen Nielsen for Nielsen's Grove may be in, but banners for a cultural arts awareness program may be out.

The Orem City Council looked at those decisions and many others as the group met in a work session recently on how to disperse the city's CARE (Cultural Arts and Recreation Enrichment) tax funds.

The council will vote on the final disbursement of funds following a public hearing at its Tuesday meeting. Those receiving grants will sign contracts with the city, then the funds will be available July 1.

The $13,700 application from the Historic Preservation Commission for a statue of Jorgen Nielsen, the Danish immigrant who founded the original Nielsen's Grove pioneer park, was deemed by Greg Stephens of the city's legal staff to be a legitimate use of CARE tax funds because of its permanence. But the banners requested by the Orem Arts Council for a cultural arts awareness campaign do not meet the legal definition of "facilities," he said.

It is estimated that the tax will bring in $1.8 million annually -- funds to be spent for recreation and cultural arts in Orem. This year, the council has an additional $350,000 to work with, from the months of April, May, and June of 2006, when the tax was first collected, added to the annual July 1-June 30 fiscal year amount.

As a beginning point, the council followed the lead of Mayor Jerry Washburn in outlining a long-term approach to the CARE tax allocations that divided the estimated $14.4 million in total revenues over the eight-year life of the tax into "buckets," or accounts.

The "buckets" included: property, $3 million; recreation, $4 million; major cultural, $6 million; "other" cultural, $500,000; administration, $500,000; and contingency, $400,000. During the council's deliberations, the SCERA, Hale Center Theater, and storytelling were referred to as "the Big Three" in cultural arts in Orem.

It appears the council may fully fund SCERA's request for $569,000 for events and programs, and the Hale application for $395,645.

The Utah Storytelling Guild will likely receive the $3,850 requested to begin a story camp, and $6,580 for a program that will take stories about character traits into schools.

The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival's applications for several big-ticket facilities grants were considered, but the council was not yet ready to allocate $106,692 for the design of "The Center for the Story."

"It feels early to me -- a little early, and unexpected," said Councilmember Margaret Black. "We need more time."

Councilmember Karen McCandless said she feels that the "Center for the Story" is a "wonderful idea," and that storytelling is "Orem's stamp nationally as far as cultural arts are concerned."

The council asked for more information, including lists of priorities, from the city's various departments and affiliates that applied for a total of $17,514,328 in money for facilities -- more than the total amount of revenues expected from the CARE tax.

"We do have a finite amount of money," said Washburn, "and we also have a stewardship to make some of those decisions."

The council worked its way through the $36,725 in applications for mini-grants of $5,000 and under, and $1,068,105 in major grants in amounts over $5,000.

A number of grant applicant organizations were disqualified for not meeting the requirement of operating under an active 501-C3 nonprofit status with the IRS by the application deadline. The council is still considering opening a second round of applications in the fall.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B6.