WHEREAS the heavy dependence on property taxes and the transfer of funds from income, consumption, and resource tax sources to municipalities is essential to achieve tax fairness in local government; AND WHEREAS conditional grants are subject to bias in their allocation, lead to the distortion of local priorities, encourage opportunity expenditures, and involve unproductive administration costs: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM work with the Government of British Columbia to develop a long-term program of unconditional grants for local governments funded from income, consumption, and resource taxation sources.
Ministry of Community Services The action sought by this resolution, that UBCM work with the Government to develop a long-term program of unconditional grants for local governments, is already happening. Therefore, a new or different approach to intergovernmental cooperation in this sphere is not required. Working with the UBCM since 2001, Governments grant programs for local governments have been significantly enriched over the past few years. In 2005 alone, local government grants rose by almost 8 million overall, to a total of almost 76 million. Today, three types of unconditional grants are provided by the Province to local governments: - Traffic Fine Revenue Grants provide just under 50 million to municipalities of over 5,000 that provide police services up from 10 million as recently as 200304. - Small Community Protection Grants provide about 25 million for small and medium-sized municipalities to fund local services such as road and parks maintenance. - Regional District Grants are based on population and provide over 2 million in support payments to qualifying jurisdictions. The Premier announced another escalation in support for local governments at this years UBCM Convention in Vancouver. Remarking that since 2001, governments support levels for small communities and regional districts had been maintained, he went on to announce that the budget for those unconditional grants will double, from 27 million to 54 million a year, over the next four years. All of this is clear evidence that a long-term approach is being taken to local government grants.