SAINT JOHN, N.B.- Municipalities in New Brunswick should be finding out soon how much money they will be receiving from the province in the form of unconditional grants.

The funding is needed for cities,towns,and villages to finalize their 2013 budgets and some officials have expressed concern they may not be receiving as much as they have in the past.

Premier David Alward says the new plan should be ready in the next few weeks. “There’s still some work that needs to be finished”, says Alward. “I’m very pleased with the work that Minister (Bruce) Fitch and,quite frankly,leaders within our municipal organizations have done in the last number of months”.

Alward says the previous program did not work well and a new plan is expected to be more fair and provide municipalities with the support services they need.