Council for the Rural Municipality of Hanover has thrown its support behind the RM of Ste. Anne.

Hanover Reeve Stan Toews says it has to do with the level of funding that is provided to municipalities by Manitoba Public Insurance, to reimburse for costs associated with motor vehicle collisions.

According to the RM of Ste. Anne, the Manitoba Municipal Act states that every municipality must provide fire protection services within its boundaries. Over time, those fire protection services have evolved to include motor vehicle collisions.

In the RM of Ste. Anne, their fire departments respond to crashes on several provincial roads and trunk highways, including the Trans Canada Highway, PTH 12, PR 207, PR 210, PR 302 and PR 311. It says Manitoba Public Insurance's flat rates for simple or complex motor vehicle incidents are often insufficient in covering the actual costs of service, leaving the burden of these expenses on local residents.

As a result, Council for the RM of Ste. Anne is requesting the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) lobby the provincial government to enact change to provide for basic representative funding to municipalities for services provided on provincial roads.

Hanover Council has opted to support this request.

"It's an issue in every municipality that has provincial roads or trunk highways running through their jurisdiction," notes Toews.

According to Hanover Fire Chief Paul Wiebe, Manitoba Public Insurance will usually reimburse Hanover for incident responses on provincial roads. However, sometimes claims are rejected if a vehicle is unregistered, from another province, or if MPI feels Hanover did not provide a payable service such as when wildlife is involved.

The current rate to Hanover is $956 for basic calls and $1,557 for complex calls. If firefighters are on scene for less than one hour, then the rate is less.

So far in 2021, Hanover has made 22 claims for incidents, with four of those being rejected and one still pending. Hanover has received $16,879 already this year from MPI. In 2020 it received $25,510 and in 2019 it received $25,188.

Toews says when a municipality is not fully reimbursed, it ends up costing all taxpayers who are left to cover the difference.

He notes if a crash involves a vehicle from another province, then the municipality must contact their insurer.

"But it's no guarantee that you will get anything," he says.

Meanwhile, Toews says this is not the first time this request has been made to AMM.

"They have been lobbying for this for some time already," he says. "There is usually good support for resolutions of this nature."