Whereas the Capital Regional District, received a funding allocation of 1.421M under the safe restart grant based on two per capita amounts formulae: 8.13 for rural populations and 3.10 for all populations, and a flat funding amount; And whereas the safe restart program takes into account the unique structure of regional districts as a service provider, with differing per capita amounts, there is a significant disparity between the per capita allocation for Electoral Areas versus local municipalities with a similar population: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM advocate to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to provide more equitable safe restart grant funding to Regional District Electoral Areas in comparison to the funding provided to local municipalities.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs The Province understands that roughly 90 of the 425 million in direct COVID-19 Safe Restart Funding went to BCs 162 municipalities, with the remainder going to the 27 regional districts. This roughly equals the percentage of British Columbians who live in municipalities versus unincorporated rural areas of the province serviced through regional districts. This is also similar to the funding allocation for Small Community and Regional District Basic Grants that has been in place for several decades. The regional district board has full discretion in allocating these Restart funds to various services and regional participants, including electoral areas.