Rink is waiting for RINC funding
Posted By Dan Schell
Posted 3 months ago
After receiving $120,000 of federal and provincial funding for a series of upgrades to the North Hastings Community Centre through the Recreational Infrastructure Canada program (RinC), the facility's committee was forced to go to the municipalities for financial support to complete the work.
George Eastman, President of the North Hastings Community Centre Committee, approached to the Town of Bancroft council on Oct. 27 looking for an advanced loan of $120,000, which included a 2010 budget amount of $20,000 that was to be looked at, in order to pay for the work that was done by contractors on site.
Due to delays in providing the successful groups that received funding the money they were promised, Eastman says that the committee was forced to go to Bancroft, the Municipality of Hastings Highlands and the Township of Faraday, looking for similar financial support to complete the project while they await the infusion of senior-level government money.
"This infrastructure money has taken a lot of time to get to people, and as a result, we need to collect the funds in order to pay for the work that has been done," Eastman told the council in Bancroft.
Eastman was told that due to a lack of staff distributing the funding and managing the projects that were approved, the committee was told that the funding may take up to a full month to be provided to groups.
Though with some hesitation, the Town of Bancroft council voted to provide the money and await the funding that will be provided to pay off the municipality for their support. This despite a sentiment previously shared at the table suggesting that no 2010 budget promises would be confirmed until next year's budget review.
"We all agreed to this at the table," recalled Councillor Nan McGhee. "But, the work is done, so I guess we don't have a choice in this case."
A similar request was sent to the Hastings Highlands council to discuss, where it was approved that they would provide their $13,000 that was slated for 2010. However, they also requested a report of the work that has been done up to this point before the funds are advanced to the North Hastings Community Centre Committee.
