Essex County's six smaller municipalities will get their money back from the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation for economic initiatives of their own.
The corporation announced last year it had over $2-million in unspent cash, so it refunded almost all of it back to the City of Windsor and the county. The county's share has sat in an account since then.
When Leamington Mayor John Paterson introduced the motion to return it to the municipalities, he laughs and admits he didn't expect it to get much support. And, not everyone did support it. The motion passed by a vote of 8-4.
Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos would like to see the money stay where it is until 2017 budget deliberations and then go towards something that would benefit the entire county, like improving broadband high-speed Internet access.
But Paterson disagrees.
"To get a refund of money and then just say 'oh well, you know what? -- We 're going to keep this money and spend it on something else is wrong," he says.
He plans to invest Leamington's share, $81,500 in economic development in Leamington.
Lakeshore will get the most back, $152,800. LaSalle's share is $101,200, while Tecumseh will get $98,300. Kingsville will receive $77,200, $75,900 for Amherstburg, and Essex will get $61,000 back.
- With files from Ricardo Veneza.
