WINNIPEGTHEFT

A squabble over what may only be a few thousand dollars has created a snag in efforts to get Winnipeg police a helicopter.  Mayor Sam Katz said he and police Chief Keith McCaskill received an e-mail from the province Wednesday stating the province is prepared to fund the $1.3-million annual operating costs of a cop chopper but not any inflationary costs above and beyond that.  However, the motion approved by city council last month calls for “all ongoing annual operating costs, estimated at $1.3 million in 2010, plus cost increases thereafter” to be funded provincially, and Katz said if that does not happen the plan as it is written is dead.  “If whatever is put on the table does not meet the motion as it’s written then obviously the motion cannot go forward,” he said Friday.  Provincial Justice Minister Andrew Swan said the city asked the province for $1.3 million — period — in November and his government is not at this point willing to fund anything beyond that.    The same day in the Free Press an article states the city has announced a 9 million dollar surplus from the 2009 budget.  ???????????????