Council approves application to FCM for up to $500K
Winkler city council has approved an application it hopes will translate into big bucks for its in-the-works public transportation plan.
At its Jan. 9 meeting, council gave the green light to Winkler’s application to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Municipal Fund.
The city is requesting up to 80 per cent funding for the $625,000, three-year pilot project. If the application is successful, FCM would provide $500,000 to the project while the City of Winkler would contribute $125,000.
Mayor Henry Siemens noted city staff are still working on what public transportation in Winkler will look like, using information gleaned from a series of surveys and consultation meetings last year.
“There will be a request for proposal going out at some point in time in the new year, but this is a funding opportunity that we as a community of less than 20,000 people have an opportunity to apply for [now],” he said. “Any time we can do any kind of project with 20 cent dollars, it’s exciting.”
The FCM funding would certainly help get the project going quickly, but Siemens stressed the city will be moving forward in some way even without these grant dollars.
“We believe that this is a significant need in our community. We’d like to support it either way. To what level will be determined at annual [budget] planning,” he said. “We know it’s a need. We know that we have to get to it. We know we have to get to it quickly.”
Other items of interest from last week’s council meeting:
• A public hearing was held regarding a special service proposal to promote and improve health care in the Winkler area.
Under the proposal, a special service tax will be levied annually from 2024 to 2027 on a per parcel basis against all rateable properties, including otherwise exempt properties, in Winkler.
Property owners will pay a projected $91 a year for this levy, generating $530,500 in funds annually for a total of $2.1 million for the Boundary Trails Health Centre and the C.W. Wiebe Medical Centre.
Mayor Siemens explained why they opted to apply this levy per parcel rather than on the assessed value of properties.
“Health care is much more a personal type of cost than a business cost, and it doesn’t change whether you live in the nicest house in town or not or whether you own the most expensive business in town or not—health care is equally important to each and every one of us,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that this was as fair as possible.”
The funds will be used to aid in expansion projects at BTHC and the Winkler clinic in the ALG Professional Centre.
The City of Morden and the RM of Stanley are also partnering on this and are set to pass similar levies.
The proposal received first reading last week and will now be submitted to the Municipal Board for approval before returning before council.
• Shirley Janzen has been appointed to the Winkler Police Board. Janzen has served on the board for multiple terms but had stepped back this past year. She’s now back to serve another four-year term.
• First reading was given to new indemnities for city councillors and the mayor, in line with the cost of living increases given to City of Winkler staff each year.
The mayor will receive $40,665 for his work (up 5.1 per cent from $38,692), the deputy mayor is paid $21,805 (up from $20,747), and councillors receive $18,623 (up from $17,719).
Council members also receive per diems and other amounts for attending meetings, community functions as a council representative, and attending to other council business. There was no change to these rates.
