-Cash will go towards municipal improvements, infrastructure-
OSOYOOS TIMES-April 15, 2009-
By Karen KnelsenrnOsoyoos Times
The provincial government announced on April 7 that it would be giving the Town of Osoyoos $963,190, part of which will go towards local infrastructure projects.
Penticton-Okanagan Valley MLA Bill Barisoff and John Slater, B.C. Liberal Party candidate for the Boundary-Similkameen riding, were on hand to make the announcement to Osoyoos town council.
The money comes from three different sectors of B.C.'s government.
The Towns for Tomorrow program granted $322,400 toward Osoyoos's Sewage Lagoon Aeration System and Energy Reduction Program, a two-phase project that includes reducing electricity usage at the wastewater treatment lagoon by replacing old aeration equipment.
New pumps, which will pump only when necessary, will be purchased to replace the aeration equipment.
The money will also pay for a solar-power system to generate electricity for on-site use of the pumping equipment.
An application for the funds from Towns for Tomorrow had to be made by the Town in order to qualify.
The Town also received 100 per cent, or a total of $1,848, of its provincial carbon tax contributions back from the province.
As Osoyoos signed on to the Community Action Charter last year, the Town qualified to receive a rebate on the money paid towards the tax.
The refund can be used in any way council sees fit.
And the biggest chunk of cash, a total of $638,942, came from the province's Strategic Community Investment Fund.
Council had to sign an agreement with the province to put the money toward municipal improvements in order to be eligible for the funds.
Barry Romanko, the Town's chief administrative officer, said there are no strict usage applications for the money, which will also be funnelled into the Town's general fund.
The Town will receive further cash instalments from the investment fund in June of 2009 and in June of 2010.
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