Crowsnest Pass sign. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Crowsnest Pass to receive $1.2-million in disaster relief…six years after flooding

Oct 2, 2019 | 5:15 PM

CROWSNEST PASS, AB – The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass received word from the Government of Alberta that their long-overdue payment from the Southern Alberta Disaster Recovery Program is finally on its way.

Mayor Blair Painter recounts the time in the spring of 2013 when the community suffered serious flooding.

“We had some really high water in the spring and it washed out several areas in our community. We had a lot of water damage, flood damage, we had to replace one bridge, and there was several other pieces of infrastructure that were damaged during this high water event.”

Between the various areas that needed work, the local government spent over $1.43-million on repairs.

The Municipality got a letter from the province on September 23rd saying that they would soon be able to collect a payment covering most of that cost.

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“It’s still disappointing they didn’t fund 100% of the projects,” adds Painter.

Having already given the community an initial cheque for $51,626, this reimbursement will total $1,284,275.

Once this new payment has been received, the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass will have gotten $1,335,902, or approximately $95,000 less than what the repairs cost.

In addition to simply funding the initial repairs, Painter says there was a lot of extra work the Municipality had to do.

“We look after the projects, make sure that they’re done, put the tenders out, we monitor the ongoing progress, and then we sit and wait and wait and wait. Obviously, this was six years ago and we finally get the province to pay us out.”

Still, the mayor is happy to finally be reimbursed for this work as it will greatly ease the impact it had on the budget at the time.