WHEREAS the Local Government Grants Act deals with matters including unconditional grants to local governments and defines how the Minister may in accordance with the act and the regulations make unconditional grants to local governments and related organizations; AND WHEREAS many communities do not have access to adequate funding for operations or to cope with infrastructure deficits, or the ability to compete successfully for many grants that come with conditions and Local Government Grant Regulations identify formulas for conditional and unconditional grants including Small Community Protection Grants; AND WHEREAS the Regulations identify a small portion of provincial revenues that are available to be distributed unconditionally but do not result in providing timely assurance annually to communities that rely on these grants: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM encourage the provincial government to review the Local Government Grants Act and the Local Government Grant Regulations with a view to establish a process to recognize new revenues including but not limited to a 1 point of the HST or PST whichever exists at the time, to be dedicated to be distributed to local governments on a per-capita basis and result in a more steady and predictable revenue stream for communities that need to budget and provide long-term solutions for their communities; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a process be adopted to simplify the procedure as is done in other provinces to reduce the excessive time lines for processing conditional and unconditional grant applications on behalf of local governments.
Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development During the global financial crisis, the Province presented a 5-year plan to return to a balanced budget by 201314, which requires the government to be fiscally prudent for the long-term benefit of all British Columbians. Even with this fiscal prudence, the Province is projecting only a modest surplus of approximately 0.35 percent of revenue. Failure to maintain this fiscal plan could easily plunge British Columbia back into deficit budgets. As a result, at this time, government is not considering any new revenue-sharing programs. At the same time, the Province has responded to local government needs. Current unconditional grant funding is over 150 million per year. This is a greater level of funding than under the revenue sharing program of the 1990s. In total, senior governments have transferred nearly 5 billion in conditional and unconditional grant funding to local governments in BC over the last decade. These transfers have funded over 1400 studies and 1700 capital projects for the benefit of all British Columbians. Regarding the turn-around time for conditional grant funding, the Province has a sixty day policy. That is, for provincial grant programs, the maximum time between the application deadline and the funding announcement is sixty days. For federalprovincial programs, timelines must be negotiated between the different levels of government. The Province will continue to work cooperatively with both the federal government and local governments to develop creative solutions regarding grant funding.