Rossland City Council made some tough decisions at its Grant-in-Aid funding allocation at the Committee of the Whole meeting Dec. 9.
The city annually allocates 5 per cent of revenue from property taxes to fund the Community Grant/ Grant In Aid Program applications.
This year's tax revenue is estimated at $319,000 for 2025, with $69,000 already committed, leaving $250,000 available for funding.
The 18 applications for 2025 asked for a total of $402,000, and many of the applicants extended requests annually until 2028.
According to Chief Financial Officer Mike Kennedy's report, applicants asked for an additional $383K in 2026, $389K in 2027, and $395K in 2028, for a total of $1.57M over four years if granted in full.
"As broader consideration, in the future Council may wish to reconsider the '5 per cent of revenue from property taxes' model currently being used to support community groups, as it arguably fails to capture the full extent to which the City supports community groups across other available avenues such as through the City's operating budget, permissive tax exemptions and more," read Kennedy's report.
"There is an argument to be made to make a shift toward a 'single number' approach to community funding, moving supports from permissive tax exemption based funding and directly through either grant in aid support and/or (where applicable) lease agreements. A consideration in making any such shift should involve consultation with community groups to determine how they are affected."
Groups like the Rossland Library, Rossland Council for Arts and Culture, and the Rossland Museum could be better served if they were considered a "core service" and could access direct funding in the form of an operating grant (versus the more indirect support via permissive tax exemption). Groups with special status could also leverage more funding from third party agencies, such as the BC Arts Council.
This year, council decided to limit its funding to 10 groups for one year only.
Council voted on each application, and those not receiving funds are: Golden Bear Child Care, Trail Sting-Rays, Kootenay Festival of the Arts, the Arts Centre Society, the Pottery group, the Gold Fever Follies, and the Rossland Light Opera Society.
Council approved funding for 2025 to: Rossland Scouts $1,400, Family Action Network $3,365, Kootenay-Columbia Trails Society $39,391, Living Lakes Canada $2,583, Lower Columbia Affordable Housing Society $8,331, Rossland Council for Arts & Culture $11,167, Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre $55,041, Rossland Public Library $159,034, Rossland Tennis Society $3,197, and Tourism Rossland $17,123.
