The City of Yorkton will be renewing its membership in the Assiniboine Watershed Stewardship Association.
The request for membership came before Council at its regular meeting Monday.
The letter to Council explained the AWSA "consists of 36 members, which includes all 25 Rural Municipalities, six towns, three villages and the Cities of Melville and Yorkton." It noted the organization's "goal in 2011 to have the remaining Villages, the First Nations Reserves and the towns of Canora and Churchbridge join as members."
This year's request is higher than in the past in terms of direct dollars from the city.
"The City of Melville fees were set at $2,000 and the City of Yorkton fees were set at $3,000 along with in-kind office space, board rooms and photocopier usage. New for the City of Yorkton in 2011, we are requesting $5,000 cash and the use of Board Room "A" for approximately (6) meetings per year. Now that we have opened our own office, we no longer receive the in-kind value of office space from the city. The $5,000 charge represents approximately 30 cents per capita which is comparable to what the cities of Estevan and Weyburn contribute to their local watershed association. They both contribute $5,000 or 50 cents per capita," detailed the letter.
"These membership fees generate $37,250 which is used for office expenses and some staff wages. This funding amounts to approximately 16 per cent of our office funding. We then use this funding to leverage other funds from provincial and federal sources which in 2010 totalled approximately $200,000 or 84 per cent of our office funding in 2010."
The request was forwarded to Administration by Council, but Lonnie Kaal, the City's Director of Finance explained after the meeting $3,000 was allocated in the 2011 City Budget passed in December. The remaining $2,000 will need to be found from surpluses in the budget, she said.
