At Tuesday's RM of Portage la Prairie council meeting, the announcement was made about the impact of the provincial and federal budgets on the municipality. Councillor Roy Tufford says it included unconditional funding for infrastructure.

"We used to have to apply for grants from the Provincial Roads and Bridges program, but now they've just gone to a per capita type grant based on your size," explains Tufford. "It's not your exact per capita, but groupings. I think we're in the 5,000 to 10,000 category. The grant was $138,500 that we'll get."

He notes the unconditional aspect of the grant allows you to use it in the general funding for infrastructure, meaning you can piggy-back it onto other grants. This was not allowed under the previous arrangement. Tufford adds the $138,500 is about what they've been getting in previous years. He says some paving projects are in the plans, and that funding should cover it with other funds that have increased.

Tufford says the federal budget was a big news item. 

"That's significant. The one-time double gas tax payout means that's really going to help us with infrastructure stuff because we can use that on any number of projects that we want, too," notes Tufford. "When you add that onto the province's grant, we've got some pretty good money to do some stuff with this year."

That funding amounts to an additional $369,171 with conditions. 

The RM may apply this to Industrial Park and other eligible projects in the future.