Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 01/02) - Expecting to wolf down a whole pie of special grants money, community groups were surprised last week to find the city only had a slice left.

The city budgeted $100,000 to dole out to community groups for special projects this year, which it does over two meetings: one in the spring and one in fall.

This year, councillors approved cheques for almost $83,000 this March, leaving only $17,271 for groups applying this fall.

That came as a surprise to the people who huddled into the city board room last week, who applied for a total of $95,012. Seeing the slim pickings, two groups -- the Federation Franco-TeNOise and the Snowking -- completely withdrew their bids, which amounted to $40,000.

"There's too many good things here," said Snowking Tony Foliot, talking about other group's money requests and promising to come back in spring, 2003.

"I want a lot of money."

The corporate services committee, which fielded the inquiries, suggested the following allotments:

• $500 to the Yellowknife Playgroup Association to offer special events
• $6,100 to the Aurora Arts Society to study the need for an artist centre
• $1,418 to the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors to buy non-glare glass for artwork, as the glare can be disconcerting to people with Alzheimers
• $4,680 to the Yellowknife Gymnastics Club to buy vault tables and mats for the club's new gym
• $2,740 for the NWT Music Teachers Association to host a piano workshop
• $500 to Paddlers for Parts Association to run a kayak program this winter
• $500 to Yellowknife Search and Rescue for training programs
• $833 to the Yellowknife Playschool Association to produce a new brochure

Council approved the allotted amounts at its Monday meeting.