The province handed out a sack of cash to Kootenay communities in its latest Strategic Community Investment Fund (SCIF), an unconditional grant payment the province makes from its general revenues to municipalities across the province.
With a total of over $450,000 coming to the Greater Trail area—and $1.23 million to the West Kootenay Boundary—the SCIF grant includes the traffic fine revenue sharing program and small community and regional district grants.
Each community uses the cash injection to help flesh out its budget, but how that cash is used varies with each municipality.
Rossland will have $84,075 come its way, but Trail received the largest overall instalment of cash at $106,698 in the West Kootenay-Boundary, including $22,269 from traffic fine revenue.
Trail was the only community in the Greater Trail region to receive traffic fine revenue.
The traffic fine revenue sharing program funding helps offset the cost of policing and community safety, with Trail using its allotment for the city to employ two extra Crime Reduction Unit RCMP officers to provide a "higher level of service." Those officers also serve Rossland.
Only communities that pay for policing—like Trail, Nelson and Castlegar—received the traffic fine revenue.
The grants come from ticket fines and court-imposed fines on violation tickets, and the amount of money a municipality receives is based on its contribution to total municipal policing costs.
Fruitvale was given $80,678, Warfield garnered $79,362, while the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary received $35,823. Montrose was allotted $70,168.
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