MOOSOMIN — The latest intake for the Targeted Sector Support program officially opened on Dec. 2. The TSS Initiative helps municipalities who partner on projects that enhance municipal service delivery, governance, and administrative capacity.
Successful projects can receive 75 per cent of eligible costs up to $100,000.
“This will be the last official intake period,” confirmed Jean-Marc Nadeau, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association—the group that manages the TSS Initiative. “What I mean by that is that it will have a rolling intake moving forward. Through the program, we recognize that municipalities are constantly evolving, and they have opportunities that arise outside of the intake period. So instead of restricting them to an intake period, we’re going to have a rolling intake and allow them to provide their submissions throughout the year.”
TSS Initiative funding is available in four streams: dispute resolution and relationship building, capacity building, regional co-operation, and municipal transition. The program began in 2020, allocating $1.5 million each year from the Municipal Revenue Sharing Program.
“Over the last few years, we’ve invested in about 150 programs, and about $6 million has been doled out,” Nadeau said. “They’re projects to encourage regional co-operation, to encourage governance enhancement, but they always have to be in partnership with a neighbouring community, they just can’t be done on their own.”
Last year, Moosomin received a $25,000 grant through the program for a feasibility study on a new community multiplex, and Kipling also had a successful grant that netted $28,500 through the TSS Initiative for a similar study into a new arena.
“Partnerships across Saskatchewan are critical to help our communities grow and thrive,” Government Relations Minister Eric Schmalz said. “The Targeted Sector Support Initiative allows municipal leaders across our province to find creative ways to work together and provide services to continue building strong and vibrant communities.”
The deadline for this final intake is April 30, then the switch to rolling intakes will happen.
“The municipalities can prepare their application anytime,” Nadeau said. “They’ve just got to visit our website and get all the details with respect to the forms and the submission we have. We use a digital platform to allow the application to go through, to try to make it as painless as possible.”
