Osoyoos and Oliver have both received their share of the $1 billion one-time grants to help address growing communities across BC.
Under the Growing Communities Fund Osoyoos will receive $2.556 million while Oliver will receive $2.769 million and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) is to receive $4.483 as a whole.
The determination of the size of the grant being distributed to all municipalities and regional districts relied on a funding formula reflecting both population size and growth, according to the province.
Will the provincial grant money inject new life into Oliver’s Station Street Plaza proposal? Shown here is an artist’s preliminary rendering of the Station Street Plaza design. File picture.
“Council and other municipalities have been lobbying the provincial government for additional funding. This work paid off, and the $2.5 million is a welcomed and needed boost to the Town,” said Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff.
Rod Risling, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Osoyoos said the town was confident they would get something but “we didn’t know how much.” He notes that because the criteria included both population and growth this helped with the total figure.
“There are numerous projects within our 5-year financial plan that are unfunded and require borrowing. This announcement will assist our financial position, which in effect will save property owners money,” Risling said.
Over the coming months, town administration will review the grant details and present options to Council on the best ways to utilize the funds he said.
“Rising costs and aging infrastructure is something many municipalities are struggling with, and having this unexpected support will help deliver upon the needed projects identified by Council,” McKortoff added.
“We don’t know the nuts and bolts of it,” Risling said. We don’t have the details of the grant, what the conditions are and that type of thing. We will look at the details of the grant and bring it before council for their consideration,” Risling told the Times Chronicle.
“It could be something new the council wants to do or potentially just assign it to one of the other projects and reduce debt.”
Risling adding there were a number of items from the budget in want of funding including the 85th St. plaza project, active transportation plan, Main St. improvement from the bridge to Tim Hortons, housing, utilities such as water and sewer, “the list goes on and on,” he added.
He said there are some things like Gyro Park that are in the plans but first the town wants to consult residents on the existing plan and then fine tune it.
Another factor to consider according to Risling is any deadlines imposed on the use of the grant. “Maybe it’s one of those things we hold off on a bit but if they [the Province] have deadlines that will speed up the process.”
He noted that many of the provincial grounds come with relatively short deadlines, but in this case Risling hopes the timeframe will be more flexible given the scale of the grant.
“I am so grateful to our MLA Roly Russell, Honourable Anne Kang, Minister of Municipal Affairs, Honourable Katrina Conroy, Minister of Finance, and Premiere David Eby for investing in municipalities,” McKortoff added.
“Our communities are growing and this puts more pressure on community centres, parks and swimming pools that families rely on, said BC Premier David Eby. “To help, we’re providing the single largest provincial investment in communities in B.C.’s history”.
Grants are being distributed using a formula that incorporates an initial $500,000 per municipality or district, and further adjustments for population size and per-capita population growth between 2016 and 2021, based on BC Stats data.
According to the province this method considers the impacts of service and amenity demands on smaller and rural communities and the additional pressures experienced by faster-growing communities.
Holding up the example of this cross-government co-operation, Anne Kang, Minister of Municipal Affairs said the “unique needs in each community can be addressed to ensure they can thrive into the future,” said.
“These grants will support projects that each community needs the most, like new affordable housing and child care facilities, road improvements or recreation centres,” Kang added.
“The transfer of these funds provides massive investments for every local government in the province,” said Jen Ford, president, Union of BC Municipalities.
“This new funding will allow communities to accelerate the replacement of aging systems, and expansion to current services to better meet the demands of growing populations. The approach of providing funding upfront will ensure that these funds are directed to the most urgent priorities identified in each community.”
Grants will be distributed to local governments by the end of March 2023.
