Just days before the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) was expected to adopt the 2021 budget, more funding for COVID-19 restart efforts was announced.
On March 22, the province announced $10 million will be distributed among the 27 regional districts in B.C. by the end of the month to help with regional and local services impacted by the pandemic.
The SCRD will receive $241,000, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs told Coast Reporter via email. This is on top of the $521,000 the SCRD received in November 2020 for a total of $762,000 from the COVID-19 Safe Restart operating grant.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all our lives, and local governments are on the front line providing important services people count on,” the Ministry’s statement said.
Eighty per cent of the $10 million will be allocated according to rural populations in the regional districts, with the remainder allocated according to total population, which includes any municipal populations, the ministry told Coast Reporter, “because providing services in remote rural areas tends to be more expensive.”
“This will ensure larger regional districts receive more total funding, while smaller and rural regional districts receive higher per capita funding.”
A total of $540 million in funding from the COVID-19 Safe Restart Agreement is being distributed to 188 local governments in B.C. and $415 million of that funding was allocated in November 2020. The Town of Gibsons received $1.5 million and the District of Sechelt received $2.56 million.
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