The Nipawin Chamber of Commerce is looking for some extra funding from the Town.
Last year, the Town’s fee for service accounted for $15,000 of the Chamber’s revenue. This year, the Chamber would like to see that increase to $30,000.
“[We are requesting] funding from the Town to help cover a portion of our costs for tourism,” said Marlon Zacharias, first vice-president of the Chamber. He approached Council with the request during a regular meeting March 13.
Documents from the Chamber showed that it spends about $50,000 a year on tourism-related expenses.
“The cost to the Chamber for the last number of years has actually been quite high for us to offer the tourism that we do,” said Zacharias, who said about 1,300-1,500 people sign the Chamber’s guest book every year.
“Unfortunately, we estimate that at least half of the people that come in don’t sign the book.”
Rennie Harper, Nipawin's mayor, said the request would be taken under advisement as the council continues its budget deliberations.
New funding request policy
The Town of Nipawin has a new process for local organizations to follow when they’re requesting funding. The “Fee for Service” funding policy is a 24-question document that offers organizations an opportunity to describe their program or activity and how the funds will be spent.
“[The policy] on a go-forward basis will allow some more formal and due process when it comes to the Town Council receiving requests from community groups or funding assistance on a year-to-year basis,” said Elliott.
“This is oriented towards more groups or organizations that are repeating similar requests from year to year to year,” he said.
The Town will be sending letters and copies of the policy to community groups for next year’s budget requests.
