(Submitted photo/RM of Connaught)

By Ben Tompkins

Provincial Grants

RM of Connaught receives over $21,000 from TSS

Jan 27, 2023 | 5:14 PM

A total of $21,656.25 has been given to the Rural Municipality of Connaught, courtesy of the Government of Saskatchewan.

This is part of the more than $500,000 which was invested toward 15 new municipal projects, across the province, to strengthen communities.

All of the funding falls under the Targeted Sector Support (TSS) Initiative.

“Our government is proud of its ongoing work and relationships with Saskatchewan’s municipal associations to make this initiative happen,” said government relations minister Don McMorris. “Together, we will help communities better serve their citizens by strengthening local governments across this great province.”

For the RM of Connaught, their project will fall under official community plans and zoning bylaws, through the regional cooperation funding stream.

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According to the administrator for the RM and Village of Connaught Jaime Orr, legislation has changed and they need to have building bylaws by the end of 2023.

“Neither one of us does, so we just saw that as an opportunity to work together to do our building and redo our OCPs and zoning since they’re from the 80s,” she explained. “There’s also a very high probability that the village will eventually be absorbed into the RM at some point, so it just seemed like a good plan to do them together and make them cohesive.”

The TSS Initiative will provide cost-shared grants to support municipalities partnering to enhance their core responsibilities through projects focused on good governance, capacity building, and regional cooperation.

And, with the funding set to cover up to 75 per cent of the eligible project costs, Orr added how excited the RM of Connaught truly is.

“I was extremely happy, I wasn’t entirely sure we were going to get it, because the RM received TSS funding last year… it was very important, especially for the village that we get this funding so that we can proceed.”

The grant will help pay a consultant to ensure everything is interpreted correctly and that a proper plan is put into place.

Projects are reviewed and approved by the TSS Steering Committee, which consists of representatives from the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), the Saskatchewan Association of Northern Communities (New North), and the Ministry of Government Relations.

“By investing in projects that foster good governance and encourage inter-community collaboration, the Targeted Sector Support Initiative is helping to strengthen Saskatchewan’s hometowns and improve the lives of our residents,” SUMA President Randy Goulden said. “SUMA is proud to be a partner of this important initiative and we look forward to the benefits these new projects will have in our communities now and in the future.”

This is the fourth round of projects approved under the TSS Initiative, which is funded through the Municipal Revenue Sharing Program. SUMA administers this funding on behalf of the TSS Steering Committee.

“SARM couldn’t be more pleased with the impact the TSS initiative is having in our communities,” SARM President Ray Orb said. “We have experienced RMs using their grant to provide municipal governance training to not only their own elected officials but officials from surrounding municipalities as well.”

TSS projects are funded under one of the following streams: dispute resolution and relationship building, capacity building, regional cooperation, and municipal transition.

“New North appreciates the ongoing work of the Targeted Sector Support Initiative and collaborating with other municipal organizations and the provincial government to help make Saskatchewan communities even better,” New North Chairperson Georgina Jolibois said.

All Saskatchewan municipalities are encouraged to apply for TSS funding in the next intake for applications, which is expected to open in early March.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8