Sophie Demers
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

MRC PONTIAC – The municipalities of Campbell’s Bay, L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Otter Lake, and Waltham have received funding from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MAMH) to support local projects chosen through participatory budgets.

Participatory budgets allow residents to propose and vote on projects they want the funding to support. This approach ensures the community has a direct say in how the money is spent.

Campbell’s Bay, L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, and Otter Lake each received $10,000, the maximum amount available, while Waltham applied for and received $5,000. The MRC Pontiac will match the funds awarded to each municipality.

“We’ll be putting out a call for proposals, asking for submissions for projects — probably in April,” said Otter Lake Mayor Jennifer Quaile. “We haven’t determined the exact priority areas yet, but there’s a range of options to choose from: the economy, the environment, agriculture, sports and recreation. The interesting thing about this initiative is that it allows the public to have real input into concrete actions that can improve the community at large.”

All 18 Pontiac municipalities were invited to apply for the funding, though some chose not to participate.

“We decided not to apply because we applied for a lot of funding last year,” said Mansfield Mayor Sandra Armstrong. “We’re currently focused on using the funding we’ve already received and completing various projects. Once we’re ready to focus on new initiatives, we’ll certainly apply for additional funding opportunities.”

Residents in participating municipalities can expect more details in the coming weeks about how to get involved with their municipalities’ participatory budgets.