By Mark Squibb
The City of Mount Pearl has accepted over $5.3 million in federal funding spread out over a five-period.
The funds come courtesy of the Canada Community-Building Fund Agreement (formerly the gas tax), a federal funding program aimed at helping communities improve all manner of infrastructure, from roads to recreation facilities.
The City will receive $1,028,457 in 2024-2025, $1,071,309 in both 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, and $1,114,161 in both 2027-2028, for a total of $5,399,397.
Funding is based on census data, and a second round of funding (2029-2034) will be determined based on the 2026 census.
“What struck me with this item is that our disbursements and the amounts we receive are contingent on our census data,” said councillor Jim Locke. “And I know the City of Mount Pearl, through our strategic plan, is all about intensification, and we are proactively trying to recruit and attract new residents to the City of Mount Pearl, and this is the reason here. Our population has been declining over the last number of census periods — I think about two percent over the last census period — so, the loss of population will impact the amount of money we receive under this agreement. So, I just wanted to highlight the reason for being proactive in intensification and trying to attract more people to our fine City. It does have financial implications for funding activities like this.”
The funds are first dispersed to the provincial government and then allocated to municipalities by the Province.
