The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
If the City of Flin Flon and surrounding cottagers want a template for a fire protection deal, they need not look very far. Ninety minutes southeast, the Town of The Pas has four separate funding agreements providing fire service to hundreds of outlying residents. The largest of these arrangements, with the Rural Municipality of Kelsey, provides fire coverage to somewhere between 400 and 500 households. The biggest portion of the RM of Kelsey is Carrot Valley, southwest of The Pas. The RM also includes Wanless, a tiny village 45 kilometres north of The Pas, the furthest point to which firefighters travel. In exchange for fire protection, the RM pays The Pas a yearly fee of $30,000 _ which works out to $60 to $75 per household. The RM covers the tab from its overall tax revenue, so as is the case with other services, residents pay no direct fee to either the RM or The Pas. A second agreement sees the cottagers of Clearwater Lake Provincial Park, along with the provincial government, pay The Pas an annual fee of $28,000. The deal covers 363 cottages, meaning the deal is worth $77 per cottage. Yet cottagers themselves only pay $55 each for the service. The remaining $22 _ about $8,000 when all cottagers are factored in _ comes from Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship. A provincial spokesperson said the province 'provides funding support for fire suppression, but only in provincial parks.' 'These agreements are cost-shared between the cottagers in the park and Conservation and Water Stewardship,' the spokesperson continued. 'Manitoba's contribution supports costs for parks infrastructure and to support emergency responses to all areas of the park, not just for cottage structures. This could include motor vehicle accidents, campground incidents, snowmobile incidents, etcetera.' The Pas also has two fire service agreements with cabin owners' associations _ Rocky Lake North Shore Cottager's Association and Rocky Lake East Shore Cottager's Association. In both cases, cottagers pay The Pas $50 per lot, per year. In the case of the North Shore cottagers, that works out to $1,850 a year for 37 lots. Specifics for the East Shore were unavailable at press time. All four agreements are extremely detailed, spelling out, for instance, the conditions under which The Pas may refuse to supply fire protection. If the fire chief or his designate decides the firefighting resources are needed in The Pas or elsewhere, the town has a right not to respond. There is also a clause allowing the fire chief to 'request additional personnel, apparatus or equipment from any private individuals or service providers' if a fire or rescue situation so requires. Between the four agreements, The Pas receives in excess of $60,000 each year. Recently, after talks between Flin Flon area cottagers and the city failed to bring about a fire agreement, some cottagers saw as excessive the asking price of $300 a year, minimum. In comparison to agreements in The Pas region, $300 is certainly high. The Pas' richest deal, with Clearwater Lake and Conservation, brings in $77 per cabin _ nearly four times less. See '$50' on pg. Continued from pg. When The Pas negotiated directly with cottage owners at Rocky Lake, town officials came away satisfied with a $50 fee _ six times less than Flin Flon's proposed price tag. None of which is to say that Flin Flon was necessarily unreasonable with its fee request. That's a subjective matter, one for each cottager to decide for him or herself. Indeed some cottagers have said, both in public and in private, that they were supportive of the $300 fee. Whether they were the majority is far fromclear. Though the City of Flin Flon ended cottage fire protection July 1, refusing to continue subsidizing coverage, some hope a funding agreement can still be reached. Among them is MLA Clarence Pettersen. He has been talking with different provincial departments to see what role they may play in bringing a deal to fruition. Recent weeks have brought questions about the value of any talks between the city and cottagers given that the North of 54 Cottage Owners Association says it is not yet a legal entity and cannot enforce fees for fire protection or any other service. Pettersen told The Reminder he has been discussing that very issue with the Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, comparing the situation to 'a big puzzle that we have to work out and get some clarification' on. For now at least, area cottagers, on the Manitoba side of the border, are urged to phone Conservation's 24-hour toll-free line at 1-800-782-0076 in the event of a cabin blaze.
