In a press release from the Manitoba Province last week Friday, it was announced that $47 million dollars in unconditional funding would be given to municipalities across the province, which in turn ended the seven-year freeze on municipal operating basket funding. The Reeve for the RM Stuartburn is very excited about this.
Michelle Gawronsky says the RM of Stuartburn will be receiving a 28 percent increase, or a total of $99,170.78 in funding from the government.
The RM's base grant was $358,236.18. Now after the additional funding, their current Municipal Operating Grant is $457,406.96.
Gawronsky says she has been aware of the 7-year funding-freeze since she was elected as Reeve.
"The very first thing that was brought to my attention is that the province had frozen the funding to the municipalities in 2016” she says. “So to actually have that happen within the first couple of months of me being the Reeve in the community definitely does help.”
She continues to say they will be going into their budget very soon, as they are opening discussions on it this week and they look forward to making good use of the money.
“We've got roads that need fixing. We've got ditches that need cleaning. We've got water from stem to stern, so we definitely have good use for the monies that are going to be allocated to us.”
She says the 28 percent increase will help the municipality moving forward.
“We're going to be taking a good, hard, long look at what is needed in our community. The residents have definitely shared where they would like to see monies put and to improve the services for them.”
She’s very thankful toward the government for putting the freeze to an end.
“Thank you very much to the provincial government. Any new monies are always welcome and we look forward to being able to put them to good use for the ratepayers in our municipality.”
With files from Adi Loewen