Rural Saskatchewan will soon have new money to address some of its infrastructure needs.
The province is in the final stages of negotiating with rural and urban municipalities how it will distribute a $17.7 million injection of new federal money earmarked for such projects in 2005.
Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Neal Hardy said the money will be divvied up on a per capita basis, which means $3.4 million for rural areas.
The $17.7 million is the first part of Saskatchewan’s $147 million share of gas tax revenue to be distributed over the next five years as announced in the recent federal budget. The funding fulfils a “new deal” promise on municipal infrastructure funding made by prime minister Paul Martin during the 2004 election campaign.
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient…
Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert praised Martin at SARM’s 100th annual convention for living up to that promise.
“This new deal will mean real new dollars for our province,” he told the 2,400 registered delegates.
Federal finance minister Ralph Goodale said the funding is on top of what goes into three existing infrastructure programs and the plan is to keep it going well beyond 2010.
“It is intended to be ongoing indefinitely into the future as a reliable revenue source for municipalities,” Goodale told SARM delegates.
There will be a slow rollout on the $147 million, with most of the money coming at the tail end of the five-year program.
After the current commitment runs out, it will be replaced by even more gas tax revenue, Goodale said, with Saskatchewan receiving an estimated $60 million in annual new deal money starting in 2011.
Saskatchewan government relations minister Len Taylor said the province is pleased the federal government earmarked the gas excise tax money for this purpose.
However, he said there are a lot more stipulations on how the money has to be spent than originally anticipated, with Ottawa looking for project proposals containing a heavy dose of the words “environmental” and “sustainable.”
Hardy said SARM should be able to work within those green program parameters. There are plenty of rural water projects that should meet the requirements and he pointed out that trucks would use less fuel and rubber driving on newly constructed roads.
