Officials at the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority are scrambling to change their budget now that the province has cut $141,440 in program funding.
It amounts to a 50 percent reduction in the LRCA’s local programming budget of $292,380.
Spokesperson Donna Blunt explains the funding announcement was made last week, a third of the way through the authority’s budget year.
She says it means “the authority will now have to go back and cut from other areas to insure they can provide” programs which they are obliged to do.
Blunt tells us those core programs include flood forecasting, the operation of flood control structures, and natural hazard management.
The LRCA official tells us it’s the first time in about 20 years they have seen a funding decrease.
Blunt agrees the cut is a form of downloading and suggests the reduction could mean municipalities may be asked to increase the amount they are required to provide to the authority.
