July 29, 2010
Tri-Cities Public Safety Boosted by Provincial Funding

COQUITLAM – Residents of the Tri-Cities and surrounding area will benefit from more than $1.2 million in provincial funding that will be put toward public safety initiatives and important municipal services. The funding is part of a $38.6 million instalment from the Strategic Community Investment Fund.

“We made a commitment to provide communities with traffic fine revenue to assist them in creating safer places for our families to live and work,” says Port Moody-Coquitlam MLA Iain Black. “In addition, we continue to provide small community grants so that smaller communities like Anmore and Belcarra can make use of additional resources for important projects and initiatives.”

“A crucial target for our local quality of life is to work towards safer streets and communities,” says Coquitlam-Burke Mountain MLA Douglas Horne. “We are working to deliver traffic fine revenue to the local level, so that we can get funds directed at fighting crime effectively and more strategically.”  

The break-down in funding is as follows:

• Coquitlam: $573,546 in Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing            
• Port Coquitlam: $286,035 in Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing
• Port Moody: $205,135 in Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing           
• Anmore: $93,150 as a Small Community Grant
• Belcarra: $72,871 as a Small Community Grant

The Strategic Community Investment Fund is a restructuring of provincial grants, consisting of the Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing program and Small Community and Regional District Grants. This payment of $38.6 million to B.C.’s communities is the third installment of a total $227 million provided to local governments since 2009; a first installment of $133 million was paid to communities in March 2009 and a second installment of $55.5 million was paid in September 2009.

Since 2001, the Province has given the Tri-Cities $17.5 million in traffic fine revenues and $3.5 in Small Community Grants to Anmore and Belcarra. Funds are used for helping urban communities with financing their public safety costs such as the hiring of additional police officers at an approximate cost of $50,000 per year. Small Community Grants help municipalities with lesser tax bases to maintain their small town appeal. Across British Columbia, the provincial government has given communities $413 million in traffic fine revenues and $363 million in Small Community and Regional District Grants.

Visit Iain’s website at www.iainblackmla.bc.ca

Visit Doug’s website at www.douglashornemla.bc.ca

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