WESTLOCK — Westlock County councillors will be voting on whether or not to change the notification timeline for community grant recipients this morning.
The county could treat community grants in the same way as capital items, which get early approval, so the amount they decide on during the budget process would be final. Councillors could also decide to send out early notifications to recipients, and specify the grant is still pending final approval.
Either way, they contemplated a potential date in January at a governance and priorities meeting Jan. 26 since some councillors thought the six-month wait between applying for a grant and receiving it was a hindrance to proper planning for community groups.
“I think it’s important for these organizations to be able to make decisions, and be able to react and I think they should know sooner,” said Coun. Victor Julyan.
Currently, groups apply before Sept. 15 and councillors review the applications and select the recipients during budget discussions which typically happen in late fall or winter. Letters are not sent out to successful applicants until late spring of the following year, once the final budget is passed.
Coun. Lou Hall was also concerned about the long wait time between application and result, and said she can’t recall council ever pulling an application that had passed through the budget discussions.
“We've adjusted the amounts they’ve asked for, but once we’ve adjusted them, we’ve never turned them down,” she said.
For deputy reeve Brian Coleman, the process as it is now works for the uncertain financial times: “So what you’re saying now is we’d commit these funds even though we haven’t finalized the rest of our budget.”
The Community Grants policy that modified notification timelines to align with final approval of the budget was passed in January 2019.
Coun. Isaac Skuban, although supportive of earlier notifications for community groups, wants the county to retain control over final amounts.
“As long as we have the ability at budget time to be able to say ‘We have this amount allocated to grants and we can give out this much’, however we can do that, that would be my kind of approach to it.”
In the interim budget for 2021, the exact figure for community grants isn’t clear, apart from a brief note that claims the county “support(s) 20 community groups and manage(s) $80,000 in community grants.”
The county has budgeted $126,071 in grants and contributions, about $20,000 less than last year.
A request from Coun. Dennis Primeau to change the policy and only allow one application per community group didn’t receive much support. Reeve Jared Stitsen says this can be done during budget talks, when councillors can choose what they want to support.
“I think if we limit ourselves, we’re just going to be coming back here and saying ‘Well, we have a group that wants to apply for two things’ and they’ll give their reasons. It's so easy to do this at budget time: one, two, none. We've done it before,” Stitsen said.
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