Grande Prairie City Councillors have held off on making a final decision on municipal funding requests for a majority of community groups looking for approval.
Mayor Jackie Clayton says despite a lengthy Council and Committee of the Whole meeting last week, where the discussion swirled whether or not operational grants would remain at 2021 levels, at just over $3.85 million, councillors still need more time to talk about the potential impacts.
“As we will go back and have further discussions… all of the line items within the community group funding will be potentially under consideration,” she says.
“Some of it was an easy decision for council, and some of it, council thought they wanted to come back and have further discussion on,”
Some of the approvals include $50,000 for STARS in 2022 and 2023 via Future Expenditures Reserves, and $10,000 for the Peace Wapiti Speed Skating Club for 2022 via the Arctic Winter Games Legacy Fund.
Council also approved a cap per enhancement funding requests starting in 2023, with no single grant exceeding $14,999. Clayton says while the decision to extend the debate wasn’t easy, non-profits in the city will still be covered in the meantime if the need arises.
“Any not-for-profit that is in a status that they really needed support, we still have our emergency group funding,” she adds.
No timeline has been given as to when the issue will reappear at council.
