The new Tantramar council will consider approval of $97,700 in community development grants at its next meeting on March 14, 2023. That amount is roughly the same that the town of Sackville and village of Dorchester approved last year. ($92,500 was approved in Sackville and $5,000 in Dorchester.)

This year’s provincially-created budget carved out $105,000 for community grants, which means another $7300 would be still available in the budget for the remainder of the year. That will give Tantramar staff flexibility to entertain other requests that might come up this year, said recreation director Matt Pryde to council on Monday. “There are going to be groups that aren’t used to the granting process from outside of the town of Sackville boundaries. So we recommend leaving a little flexibility for 2023 as those grant requests are likely to come in throughout the year,” said Pryde.

Pryde says the town followed the former Sackville policy to evaluate the grant applications, with himself, corporate services director Kieran Miller, and tourism and development manager Ron Kelly Spurles evaluating applications according to an approved scoring matrix for four types of grants available: operational, special events, capital projects, and sponsorship.

Dozens of community groups apply for funding through the program, and that means some conflicts of interest for both staff and council members. While council discussed the grants program on Monday, councillor Matt Estabrooks stepped out of the room due to his conflict as president of the Sackville Minor Hockey Association, which is up for $8,000 in an operational grant this year. And Pryde told council that tourism and development manager Ron Kelly Spurles sits out of discussions when grants for Live Bait Theatre and Performers’ Company Theatre are evaluated, due to his involvement in both organizations.

For the benefit of new councillors in the room, Pryde took a moment to explain the types of grants available under the program.

Operational grants are meant for “general operating expenses” such as staff, rental costs and other day to day expenses. Some 21 different organizations were recommended for operational funding this year, including CHMA. The largest beneficiaries are Sackville Minor Hockey for $8,000, Tantramar Heritage Trust for $7500, Sackville Skating Club for $6,000, and Live Bait Theatre and Sackville Swim Club for $5,000 each.

Staff recommended against a $10,000 operational funding request from the Intangible Culture and Heritage Society, the organizers of Levee on the Lake. Instead, they will be funded under the special events category, which is meant for one-off events or projects. Twelve groups applied for that funding and eleven were approved, with $5,000 each going to Sappyfest and Levee on the Lake, $4250 going to a school fiddling program at the Dorchester school, and $3800 going to the Centre for Artistic Achievement, which puts on the Sackville Early Music Festival. The Sackville Commons application or $5,000 to fund a youth drop-in program was denied, but the group was allotted $3,000 in operational funding to help deliver programming.

Tantramar also offers a small capital category which will fund 50% of a project up to $5,000. Recommended recipients for 2023 include the Sackville Golf Club, “for some funding to upgrade their watering system,” and the Sackville Community Garden, who applied for the first time this year, “to upgrade some of their accessibility and their trails around the garden, and to add more edible plants,” said Pryde. The Sackville Cemetery was denied this year, but has received capital funding in past years, said Pryde.

There were no applicants in the sponsorship category.

Council will consider approval of the slate of community funding in roughly two weeks, at their March 14 regular meeting.