North Battleford council has approved the request by the Battlefords Trade and Education Centre fundraising committee for a $100,000 grant to their new building.
The grant will be paid for in increments of $10,000 over 10 years.
However, the vote was a narrow one Monday, with the grant passing by a 3-2 margin.
One of the no votes was cast by Councillor Kelli Hawtin, who supported a grant to the BTEC campaign but wanted to see the City’s contribution of the land, valued around $35,000, counted towards the $100,000 total.
The other dissenting vote was cast by Councillor Ryan Bater, who expressed concerns about municipal taxpayers being on the hook for something that is a provincial responsibility.
“This isn’t about my money, and my donation,” said Bater.
“This is about other people’s money. And we don’t have this money. We will have to tax people to get it for the next 10 years. And I don’t think this is what we should be taxing people for. I don’t think this is the responsibility of municipal government. I think this is social programming, vocational programming for those who need it. This is the responsibility of the provincial government.”
He also voiced concern that other non-profits could come to council with similar requests.
“I worry about the precedent this could possibly set.”
Councillor Don Buglas, however, pointed to numerous instances in which the City has voted to fund community initiatives.
“I think the social portion of a community is crucial and important and needs to be taken into account as we are going along,” said Buglas.
He joined Councillor Cathy Richardson and Mayor Ian Hamilton in favour of the grant.
