The Town has been working hard to apply for grants to assist with various priorities and reduce the burden on our taxpayers. The Province announced that the Town would receive $150,000 to develop a plan to reduce damages and, ultimately, costs associated with floods. 

“This announcement is another win for our Town in that Council continues to reduce overall long-term costs to reduce the burden on our taxpayers. Climate change is here to stay, and things we can do to better prepare for environmental events help  eliminate or reduce damage to property and infrastructure. Council has worked hard to lobby the provincial government for financial relief to help make us a sustainable municipality.” says Mayor McKortoff.
 
“Having a plan to assist with protecting our infrastructure is more important than ever due to the increasing frequency of negative consequences due to climate change. We will start moving on this project immediately, which we hope to never use but undoubtedly will.” States CAO Rod Risling.

The grant funding will reimburse 100% of the costs of the project and will reduce damage to key infrastructure along the foreshore.

“The efforts of Council and Administration made today’s announcement possible. Council and residents have received a significant amount of information regarding our infrastructure over the past several months. As a result, Council has prioritized addressing infrastructure issues to ensure we can continue to enjoy all that this wonderful community has to offer.” Says Mayor McKortoff

During this Council’s tenure, the Town has received $14.1M in grants outside of the standard recurring annual provincial and federal grants. This funding was and is being spent on infrastructure within the Town’s municipal boundaries. To put this in perspective, over the previous 13 years, the Town received $15.4M of which $4.53M was invested within the Town boundaries and $10.83M outside.

We are very grateful to MLA Roly Russell and the Honourable Bowinn Ma, Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. This announcement is an investment in our community. It will allow us to prepare and ultimately protect the infrastructure that we rely on daily, and continue to provide Canada’s Warmest Welcome.” says Mayor McKortoff

For more information contact:
Rod Risling
(T) 250.495.6515
(E) info@osoyoos.ca