As per an old agreement between the two municipalities, Woodlands County councillors passed a motion during their Feb. 2 meeting to provide $51,100 to the Town of Mayerthorpe for recreation services and FCSS (Family and Community Support Services) programming utilized by county residents.
The contribution includes $44,000 for recreation services in both 2019 and 2020 (split evenly between the two years) and an additional $7,100 for FCSS services in 2020.
According to a report submitted to council by chief administrative officer Gordon Frank, Woodlands originally had an agreement to provide the Town of Mayerthorpe with $22,000 per year for recreation services and $6,000 for FCSS programs utilized by residents.
In 2019, council agreed to increase funding to the town, providing them instead with $42,900 per year for recreation and $7,100 for FCSS programs.
However, this new arrangement had a caveat: that the Town of Mayerthorpe would come to terms with Lac Ste. Anne County on an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) agreement that would see the county help fund recreation services based on a percentage of users.
That agreement was never reached. “It’s been two years since the town has received any funding from the county in regards to that,” Frank said.
Last fall, the CAO of Mayerthorpe reached out to Woodlands County and asked if the municipality would consider making a payment based on the old agreement while the town continues to work on the ICF agreement with Lac Ste. Anne.
Under that old agreement, Woodlands would normally provide Mayerthorpe with $22,000 annually for recreation and $6,000 for FCSS.
However, Frank indicated that Mayerthorpe had already submitted a grant reconciliation to the provincial government for their FCSS grant stating that Woodlands would pay them $7,100. That’s why there’s a slight increase on the FCSS end of the payment.
