Less is more: Manitoba municipalities say smaller pot of more flexible provincial funding is an improvement

Manitoba's municipalities are getting less money for roads and bridges from the province, but a bigger say in how it's spent.

On Tuesday, the province defended its decisionto scrap around $14 million for rural infrastructure needs in its latest budget, in favour of a smaller $10-million fund that municipalities can spend as they see fit whether that's on infrastructure or other expenses.

Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton said municipalities want the cash without strings attached.

They "wanted a funding program that would be predictable, sustainable for the long haul and would reduce red tape," Wharton saidat an Association of Manitoba Municipalities seminar in Winnipeg.

"This model that we presented today will do exactly that."

It's entirely up to the municipalities who know their communities best to make the decisions as to how to utilize those dollars- AMM president Ralph Groening

AMM president Ralph Groening said rural municipalities are better off with a smaller pot of grant money without restrictions.

"It's an improvement," he said.

"The funding is equivalent. The process of distributing it will be similar. Perhaps [the amount of money] can be improved on, but it's similar."

In 2017, the fund divvied up $14 million for rural infrastructure needs, which municipalities themselves matched.

Funding abruptlycut

But when the program was suddenly cancelled last summer so it could be rolled into the federal Investing in Canada infrastructure program, the province replaced it with $2.25 million in funding.

The unexpected funding gap came in the midst ofconstruction season, leavingmunicipalities scrambling to cover the bills they expected the province to handle.

Groening is pleased the new funding program is not tied to a 50 per cent matching contribution from other government levels, and can be spent on initiatives already supported byother funding programs or governments.

"It's entirely up to the municipalities, who know their communities best, to make the decisions as to how to utilize those dollars," Groening said.

In fact, municipalities don't even need to spend their share of the $10 million on roads or bridges. They can earmark their portion on whichever initiatives they see fit.

The new funding is in addition to the $51.4 million spread out between every Manitoba municipality outside Winnipeg.

It's the third consecutive year the province has frozen that funding to municipalities, which Groening said is an ongoing concern.

"The freeze has caused our municipalities to review their expenses and they simply need to be more cautious about how they spend dollars," he said.

But he said with the flexibility of the provincial funding, "we think that our municipalities will be in a much stronger financial position."

The Manitoba government is also investing an extra $2 million in rural water and wastewater infrastructure, to the tune of $15.8 million annually.