Municipalities continue to feel the pinch as the Manitoba government clamps down on spending. The latest provincial funding cuts come in the area of West Nile surveillance and mosquito larviciding.

Carman Mayor Bob Mitchell says the $2,500 that the town got each year is no longer on the table and Council is left bearing the full cost of the program. He admits that it wasn't much money to begin with and figures the province is just looking for ways to save, noting it adds up to quite a bit if you consider all of the municipalities that were getting funding. Mitchell says there was also staffing costs to consider.

"They had traps set and then we'd send them in and their people would test them...they don't do that anymore. So it may sound like a small amount from our perspective but they've got a lot of input costs besides what they pay us."

Mitchell adds despite this cut in provincial assistance, Carman will continue with the same level of larviciding

"You have to do the West Nile stuff, although we're trying to figure out how we'll be able to do that because now we're going to have to do the testing of the mosquitoes and the counts."

He says taking measures early in the mosquito season ultimately saves the Town money on fogging costs later in the summer.

"We larvicide within a mile of the town boundaries...that's where most of the standing water is, and it's just a way to control the mosquitoes so we don't have to use as much Malathion (later)."

Mitchell adds the Dutch Elm Disease Removal Program is also seeing cuts. He explains that the province used to hire crews to come through and take care of the diseased trees, but now local crews look after that task while government pays the community so much money per tree. "It's a hundred and thirty-five bucks or something like that but we had one tree that was like six grand to take down."

Meantime, Carman will also see less provincial general assistance in the coming year.

Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Young says the funding was to be status quo but that's now changed and Carman will actually be getting $5,493 less because the 2016 census increase of 4.5 per cent was slightly under the provincial norm of 5.8 per cent.

"It's all part-and-parcel of the same, cut little bits here and there so you irritate everybody, but not too much, and in the end, you save some money," added Mitchell.