In a presentation to City Council on Tuesday, A STARS Air Ambulance representative asked Steinbach to consider giving them financial support.

To date, Councillor Jac Siemens notes the City of Steinbach has never contributed to STARS Air Ambulance and they do not have any precedent set to provide funding to any private enterprise. However, he notes the STARS presentation did not fall on deaf ears.

STARS Spokesperson Daryl Braun outlined the life-saving work STARS does in Manitoba and the Southeast.

"STARS is part of the local emergency response chain where a municipality’s first responders are first on the scene along with EMS and then when needed, STARS brings higher-level help to the scene before a patient is transported to hospital where they become part of the provincial healthcare system. We are requesting that you consider an annual contribution to STARS. We feel that STARS has become a vital addition to the Steinbach emergency response team."

Braun says STARS is a not-for-profit organization that operates a community partnered funding model. He notes 89% of their budget in Manitoba comes from the provincial government and the rest comes from community fundraising, individual donations, corporate support, and municipal services budgets.

According to Braun, municipal support is very strong in Alberta and Saskatchewan and has been slowly growing here in Manitoba as well.

"The RM of Hanover came aboard a few months ago, they have decided to contribute I believe $5,000 the RM of Ste. Anne I believe is contributing $1 per capita for five years is the commitment they've made now which works out to about $5,000 a year. Saskatchewan and Alberta, a lot of municipalities are at $2 and even higher per capita."

Braun says STARS has flown 202 missions to Steinbach since 2011 and even more to the surrounding area. He adds greater municipal funding will also provide further evidence to the province regarding the value of renewing their current STARS contract beyond 2022.

Councillor Jac Siemens moved to put the presentation on the agenda for the city's November Study Session.

"STARS is a private enterprise and our granting process doesn't allow us to provide grant funds to private business. If we are going to fund them, how do we do that? That needs to be a discussion that council needs to have. I thought it was prudent that the mayor said we were going to discuss it at study session, which gives us a venue to have that discussion."

City Council usually holds its fall study session in early November and goes over their budget for the following year.