Estevan city council is nearing the end of its discussion for how it will allocate third party grants for this year.
Council discussed the issue at a special meeting on March 17. Members of city council and city management were joined by representatives of the different agencies that receive grants from the city.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said there are a couple of organizations that the city wants to touch base with for clarification, and then they can bring closure.
“We had good communication between council and the various organizations, and I thought the dialogue went very well,” said Ludwig.
The discussion over third party grants started early this year when the issue was brought forward during budget deliberations in January. Council trimmed the grants to $1,322,771, which is the same amount the different organizations received in 2020. The budget initially called for more than $1.4 million.
The agencies received the first quarter payment as was scheduled for this year, because they rely on the money.
Ludwig said the discussion has been interesting.
“With every new council, everything gets looked at a little bit closer, especially the first year, and I totally understand that. And then moving forward, I’m sure next year, and the successive years, there will be a lot less questions,” said Ludwig.
Ludwig noted council is looking at a new bylaw for third party grants, whereby all of the organizations would come in as part of budget deliberations and explain how they would spend the money.
Council would then approve the money for each organization following discussion.
