A city budget reduced by dwindling tax revenue spells hard times for a number of nonprofit agencies that are seeing other funding sources dry up as well.

The agencies that normally compete for a slice of city support learned this week that there probably won’t be anything left for them in the budget year that starts in July - and that they shouldn’t even bother to apply now, the time when they usually began filling out lengthy applications.

The national recession that’s cutting into city tax revenues may cost Orchestra Kentucky - formerly the Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra - more than just $10,000 in city backing, Music Director Jeff Reed said. The city only provided a fraction of the orchestra’s $700,000 annual budget, but ticket sales and private donations may well drop off too as hard times hit the area, he said.

“It’s hard to say this early, but in addition to not receiving city funding, we also are looking at the possible impact of the economic downturn,” Reed said. “This may be a perfect storm for us.”

Thus far, he’s not sure what that will mean for the orchestra’s season.

“We’re going to have to make up that money somewhere else,” Reed said. “Our approach will always be a can-do approach, and we’ll just work harder until we just can’t possibly pay the musicians’ fees.”

He expects to rely more on the orchestra’s loyal audience, and did get good news from the Kentucky Arts Council. Though that state agency is taking cuts too, it doesn’t plan on reducing grants to individual arts organizations, he said.

“We’ve never relied on government funding because we realize that it can be fickle,” Reed said. “If we were relying on government funding for half of our budget, I wouldn’t get any sleep at night.”

In June 2008 the city gave $1.6 million to 14 agencies with which it contracts for specific services such as the City-County Planning Commission, and split $303,912 among nine other nonprofits that submitted competing applications.

City departments are expected to take cuts of at least 3 percent, in addition to the 3 percent cuts they took in last year’s budget, according to City Manager Kevin DeFebbo. Contracted agencies will see the same, but there’s not expected to be anything left for competitive agencies.

Commissioners said they won’t take applications now for funding that likely won’t be there, but will let agencies know if there’s any money left after the city’s internal needs are fulfilled.

VSA arts of Kentucky got $9,700 from the city last year for its arts education programs for the disabled, and hoped to get at least part of that for another year, said Executive Director Ginny Miller.

“We always know that we can’t depend on a specific kind of funding, like city funding,” she said. “At the same time, we weren’t expecting it to go away so quickly.

“It means we have to scramble that much harder and faster this year. It could potentially cut services and programs, and it could potentially cut staff. It’s a huge thing for us.”

The city provided only a small part of the agency’s $300,000 annual budget, but all those dollars are carefully distributed among programs and comparatively low pay for employees, Miller said. Seeing further cutbacks is frustrating for people who already devote themselves to such agencies for little financial reward, she said.

“People who work for nonprofits obviously have to love what they do,” Miller said.

VSA arts and other nonprofits will likely survive such funding cuts, but probably with slashed programs and staff, she said. They can seek money elsewhere, and hope the economy eventually improves enough for the city to again help nonprofits that “do really good, valuable work,” Miller said.

Competitive agencies were already bracing for at least one year in three without city funding. Last year commissioners approved new rules to make those agencies sit out one annual round of funding requests after getting money for two consecutive years. Mayor Elaine Walker said the change was to keep agencies from relying on city money for their regular operation, and to give chances to other agencies that might have applied repeatedly. Some never made the list while they watched others get money year after year, she said.

There should be a Bowling Green International Festival this September, but anything beyond that is in doubt, with the loss of $6,000 from the city adding to other economic woes, said Kim Mason, the festival’s executive director.

“It definitely puts our future in peril,” said Mason, who also works for the Daily News. “We are meeting to discuss strategies for how to compensate for it.”

The festival’s board expected some kind of cut - city funding had already dropped from one-third of the festival’s $30,000 cost to one-fifth - and has been mulling new fundraising ideas rather than cutting performers or exhibitors, Mason said.

“We feel that we run a pretty tight ship, and to cut back anywhere is going to reduce the quality of the festival,” she said.

Though the board has staunchly resisted the idea for several years, it may have to charge admission to a festival that has always been free to the public, Mason said. Now that the festival has moved from Fountain Square Park to Circus Square Park, it’s easier to control access and thus collect admission.

“If we do an admission fee, we want it to be as minimal as possible,” she said.

Mason also is seeking individual donors, even just a few dollars at a time, through social-networking sites such as Facebook. Money from individuals also will be needed to cover expected drops in corporate sponsorship, she said. That’s been slowly declining for some time, as companies cut back on giving - and one of the biggest sponsors has always been General Motors, now facing bankruptcy.

“Obviously, we’re not expecting their support to be how it’s been in the last decade,” Mason said.

For several years, commissioners have prohibited agencies that were eligible for funds from United Way of Southern Kentucky from competing for city dollars, instead matching city employees’ contributions to the United Way and letting that organization parcel out the money. Last year the city gave the United Way $42,000, matching an equal contribution from its employees.

Despite the lack of competitive agency funding, the United Way matching contribution will continue, DeFebbo said.