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Towns and cities in northern New Brunswick will receive the same level of funding from the provincial government in 2010 as they did this year.

Local Government Minister Bernard LeBlanc announced that just over $68 million in unconditional grant funding will go towards municipalities and rural areas across the province next year, a figure nearly identical to this year's total.

During budget consultations this fall, northern mayors such as Bathurst's Stephen Brunet said they were worried about possible cuts to unconditional grants. Brunet and others had also asked for an earlier release of the unconditional grant numbers so that they could better plan their 2010 municipal budgets. LeBlanc said both those requests have been met.

"I think it's good news," LeBlanc said Friday. "Our municipal leaders had told us many times, 'please don't reduce it or don't eliminate, in this tough economic time we've managed to do that.'"

Unconditional grant funding is money each municipality receives from the province, calculated with a formula based on its tax base, to spend as it sees fit.

The tops amongst northern municipalities are Edmundston, which will receive $2.7 million, Bathurst with $2.6 million, and Campbellton with $2.2 million. All those figures are identical to last year.

The province's major cities will once again receive the largest chunk of the funding, with $19.5 million going to Saint John, $11.6 million to Moncton, and $5.8 million to Fredericton.

LeBlanc added that the provincial government also supports communities with financial investments in other ways. For example, he said, municipalities, local service districts and rural communities are eligible for funding from various government programs for infrastructure projects, official languages, highways and emergency services.

Brunet said recently that more infrastructure funding is needed for road projects to set up the north for new business.

"It's important that we get some infrastructure money up north because we have to get our municipalities available for business," he said. "I know the government has its challenges, but northern New Brunswick makes up the biggest geographical area."

This year is also the first time that a city council has to hold a vote in open session on whether to take the full assessment above the rate of inflation and new construction.

But LeBlanc said municipalities will have to wait until the end of November for the assessment figure that will tell them the size of their tax base.

The idea of making municipal councils vote for their full assessment is to make municipal government more transparent, he said.