Money for Rossland's Community Groups
By Rossland Telegraph
Rossland Community Grants recommended for 2027:
On Monday, August 10, all seven Council members gathered for a Committee-of-the-Whole meeting, two of them remotely, at 3:30 pm to wrestle with the problem of allocating the available funds, which were fewer than the total requested.
The remaining funding available to applicants for the 2027 Rossland Community Grants, after setting aside the funding already committed from previous years’ applications, was $96,497.
Council considered applications from 17 organizations, seeking funds that would total $129,785.88 – exceeding the amount available by $33,288.88. So, if Council decided to keep the City’s policy of allocating 5% of tax revenues to community grants, the task at this meeting was to keep the amounts granted to a level that would be less than the total sought by $33,288.88. Not every organization will get all they asked.
Applicants had an opportunity to speak for two minutes if they had anything new to add to the information in their written applications that Council has already studied, but few had any new information.
Morel added that any groups applying for Permissive Tax Exemptions also had an opportunity to speak, and went through the list.
Council decided to deal with the Permissive Tax Exemptions first. Provençal moved to consider the Golden Bear and Scout Hall applications in the permissive exemption stream, because the grant they were seeking was to cover their property tax liability. Council them approved both those groups for 100% tax exemption.
All other applications for permissive tax exemptions were approved in the amounts requested.
To decide how to allocate the Community Grant funding, Councillors had considered each application and how well it met the criteria; there were ten factors to weigh. Council member’s opinions on amounts to be granted were recorded and then averaged.
Spooner recused himself from any decision regarding Friends of the Rossland Range, and Weaver recused himself regarding Tourism Rossland.
Spooner expressed frustration with the way funding decisions are made; he acknowledged that there is policy, and the ten listed criteria, but he felt that there should be more accountability — a better understanding of reasons for decisions. Kwiatkowski said that she does understand the imperfections in the process, but has faith in the basic soundness of Council’s decisions.
Morel addressed the public gallery to emphasize the importance of all the volunteer groups that make Rossland the community it is, and Council’s appreciation for all that they do. Council then proceeded with its imperfect process, with the following results – PLEASE NOTE that these results are only recommendations at this point; the final awards will not be decided until the next Council meeting on September 8.
Also, there are nine community organizations who have already been granted funding extending into 2027, so those groups are not listed here.
Applications for 2027 Community Grants:
Organization Requested Recommended
Ecole des Sept-Sommets A.P.E. 12,500 8,357
Friends of the Rossland Range 4,000 4,000
Greater Trail Hospice Society 9,350 5,479
Kootenay Festival of the Arts 2,000 1,571
Living Lakes Canada 6,100 4,686
Rossland Arts Centre Society 22,000 12,261
Rossland Council for Arts & Culture 15,000 12,000
Rossland Golden City Days Festival Society 2,500 2,429
Rossland Heritage Pool Society 1,500 1,107
Rossland Mountain Biking Society 2,500 1,929
Rossland Tennis Society 4,325 4,259
Take a Hike Foundation 1,000 857
Rossland Gold Fever Follies 15,000 9,643
Tourism Rossland 20,000 6,359
Totals: 118,125 75,501
Astute readers will note that the results of Council’s recommendations did not allocate all of the available funding, but kept some in reserve for future needs.
