The city of Windsor has "tweaked" its Ward Fund Policy for 2018 — allowing councillors to use ward funds to support community projects moving forward.
A previous attempt to create a small grant program was shot down by council in 2017, but Ward 1 Councillor Fred Francis says allowing up to $1,000 to be used as councillors see fit will fill that void.
He tells AM800 News, the change will make a real difference moving forward.
"We sit there and go 'we wish we could help you but we have to go through the entire mechanism of the capital budget, and the funds may not be there and we might have to wait a year'," says Francis. "By allowing the ward funds to be used, it allows us to expedite that process in a worthwhile way that benefits neighbourhoods and strengthens communities."
Francis says it will cut through a lot of red tape.
"Now if a community group approaches a councillor and has a worthwhile initiative, the councillor signs off on that," he says. "It goes through administration to be vetted and it allows for essentially a onetime funding source of [up to] $1,000 throughout the ward funds."
The only catch is the group must match what the city kicks in.
"That community group has to put up matching funds. We have some groups within the city going 'we would like to do this but we might be $1,000 short,'" says Francis. "It could be an art project, it could be a capital project, it could be a garden, a beautification project within a ward and for $1,000 more we can get this done."
Ward 3 Councillor Rino Bortolin wanted to see funding "baked into" the budget through The Little Things Matter Grant — freeing up ward funds isn't how he wanted things to play out — but he says it's a fair comprise.
He looks forward to putting funding to work for the community.
— with files from AM800's Ricardo Veneza.