The Mayor for Ritchot says council is considering two ways of rewarding local businesses that make improvements to their properties. Chris Ewen says council plans to give first reading next meeting to both a business enhancement grant and a business incentive grant.

Ewen says the enhancement grant would see the municipality match facelift costs up to five thousand dollars for businesses. For example, if a business would like to spend $1,500 on a new sign, Ritchot would offer $1,500 of its own towards that upgrade.

(Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen)According to Ewen, they tried this back in 2017.

"It was very successful and now we are throwing a little bit more money into the game as the RM of Ritchot through the Community Development Corporation so we can see a lot more development on that aspect," explains Ewen.

As for the business incentive grant, Ewen says the municipality would look at any improvements on a commercial property, including new construction.

"We will essentially wave the municipal portion of the taxes or we will be cutting you a cheque back for the municipal taxes for commercial development," says Ewen.

Ewen says these two initiatives should benefit both the ma and pa shops and also the mega industries in their municipality.

"We already see a lot of diversity in Ritchot, but we want to see more," admits Ewen. "And by offering these two things I think we will see a lot of difference."

According to Ewen, the business incentive grant was originally intended for businesses wanting to move into Ritchot. But, Ewen says he then realized what makes Ritchot a strong and confident municipality is the hardworking businesses that already exist.

"So I'm not only looking at new businesses coming in, we're looking at getting businesses the opportunity that are already here, improve your business, add something to your business that brings your assessment up and creates value for not only us but for you," he says.

Ewen says over the last year, Ritchot has seen the Ste. Agathe industrial park start to fill in, as well as some movement in Grande Pointe.

He adds council plans to give first reading to these two items at its July 17 council meeting.