The city of Williams Lake will be receiving $3.728 million as a one-time grant from the provincial government and the Cariboo Regional District will get $3.94 million.
“I got an email this afternoon telling me the amount,” Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said, adding he wanted to thank the provincial government.
“I would love to get more money, but whatever they give us, I am very happy.”
Cariboo Regional District Chair Margo Wagner said the funding is welcomed by the CRD.
“It will help fund infrastructure that is needed for the growth of our region,” she said. “Now that the amount is known, our board will be considering where best to utilize these funds in order to maximize the benefit to our region.”
In February Premier David Eby announced the government would distribute grants to municipalities and regional districts by the end of March 2023.
READ MORE: Province pledges one-time grants totalling $1B for B.C. cities, regional districts
Municipalities did not have to apply for the grants and the province would instead use a population-based formula that looks at population growth between 2016 and 2021 to hand out the money with the smallest grant amount being $500,000.
Eby said the formula also recognizes that rural communities with smaller populations have higher costs in delivering services.
Eby clarified that money could not be used for operating costs.
It has to go into infrastructure and amenities like community centres, sewage plants and roads among other items. Local governments will also put the money into a separate account to make sure that they are accountable to their communities, so that residents can see how much money has gone into which projects, he added.
With files from Wolf Depner
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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