FORT FRANCES – In a correspondence letter to council on Monday, Canada Day fireworks organizer Dave Coats requested additional funding for this year’s display.
For the last 20 years, Coats has been in charge of the fireworks display and for each year the municipality has contributed $7,500 to help make the celebration possible.
However, in recent years, inflation has increased the price of putting on a Canada Day fireworks display from $10,000 to $22,500, according to Coats.
In an interview with Dougall Media, Coats said to keep the display the same size as in previous years he would need additional funding.
In his letter, Coats asked council if they would be willing to contribute an additional $5,000.
With only one week away from Canada Day, Coats does express in his letter that his ask is short notice.
If council decided against Coats’ request, he asked that in the 2025 budget council would consider upping their contribution to $15,000 annually.
Coun. Wendy Brunetta said she was concerned by the request due to its short notice but would support finding some money in the public relations budget to help out with the display.
Coun. Steven Maki agreed with Brunetta that providing the full $5,000 on such short notice would be difficult, but would also support the increased contribution in the 2025 budget.
Treasurer Dawn Galusha pointed out that the public relations expenses for this year were so far $5,400 and the account was budgeted with $17,000.
Therefore, Galusha stated that if council wished, “there is room in the budget” to provide Coats with some additional funding.
Brunetta thought $2,000 would be appropriate to grant as additional funding.
“I think I would propose perhaps $2,000. I think if we went with the full $5,000, that would be half of what we have left. And, there are many more, as we know, many more requests that come forward throughout the year. So, we don't want to deplete our discretionary budget too greatly,” said Brunetta.
Because of the short notice, Mayor Andrew Hallikas had to put forth two separate motions.
The first motion was to discuss the increase of the municipality's contribution to the 2025 budget at the next council meeting.
The second was a motion to grant Coats' request for additional funding for this year’s display.
With both motions passing, the Canada Day fireworks display will commence.
Coats said: “I get that their budget is set and they don't typically approve last-minute expenditures. So, I'm extremely happy that they were good enough to give us two grand.”
He was also delighted to hear that they are willing to discuss increasing their contribution when looking at the 2025 budget.
