ST. PAUL – County of St. Paul council has denied an additional $10,000 funding request from the St. Paul Elementary School’s parent fundraising council for playground upgrades at the K-5 school.
Instead, the County is recommending the school’s parent-driven fundraising council to apply to the County’s Community Aggregate Levy Funding. Council also expressed interest in helping the fundraising group with grant writing applications to potentially seek support from the province.
In November, council approved $5,000 toward the playground enhancement project. Due to budget constraints, Reeve Glen Ockerman said the County had to deny the additional funding request.
In a follow-up interview with Lakeland This Week, Ockerman said that historically, the County was able to provide funding for school playground projects, such as a $10,000 to École du Sommet in 2010, and $5,000 to Racette in 2011.
“We had the money coming in . . . [But] that is all dried up,” he said, explaining there was more funding coming from the provincial government in the past, such as Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) dollars.
MSI was a major infrastructure funding resource for municipalities across the province. MSI helped municipalities build and rehabilitate infrastructure such as roadways and bridges, water and wastewater systems, public transit facilities, and recreation and sport facilities, according to information from the Government of Alberta.
It was replaced in 2024 by the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF).
Information from the Government of Alberta indicates the County received steady funding in the past to help with infrastructure and capital projects, relative to the province’s total MSI budget up until 2022.
From 2010 to 2021, the County averaged just over $2 million in annual provincial funding from MSI. Since 2022, the County averaged about $1.3 million in annual MSI funding or LGFF.
The trend is similar to most municipalities across the province, relative to the County’s size.
“Is there a need there for the playground? Absolutely. Do they deserve it? Absolutely, but how are we going to get there?” said Ockerman, adding, the money has to come from somewhere, all the while costs of doing projects are going up.
“[Do we] take $5,000 from the Chamber [of Commerce] of St. Paul?” he questioned, hypothetically. “I would have been way more popular yesterday [Jan. 27] if we could have given more money . . . but it’s not about being popular,” added Ockerman, noting it’s about balancing the budget.
“We are in tough times.”
