Whereas communities have incurred, and continue to incur, significant losses due to the costs of responding to the pandemic including lost revenue and job losses; And whereas the provincial government is shifting its focus from restarting the province to recovery from the pandemic, including an allocation of 1.5 billion for an Economic Recovery Fund; And whereas infrastructure funding has historically generated significant economic returns for local communities, through increased employment, the flow through of dollars to local businesses, and the creation of community assets: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call for an infrastructure stimulus framework which maximizes local government choice and flexibility in ensuring funds are invested in the areas with the greatest need and economic return; And be it further resolved that such an infrastructure stimulus framework includes: - Flexibility on project category, eligible costs, procurement and timelines; - Provides 100 percent funding for recovery programs andor current infrastructure program; - Supports shovel worthy projects over shovel ready projects and removes existing federal stacking rules; and - Employs the current Gas Tax funding model.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs As part of the Provinces StrongerBC Economic Recovery the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Ministry has developed a number of recovery mechanisms for local governments. The Canada BC COVID-19 Safe Restart Grant for Local Governments is providing 270 million from the Province towards a federalprovincial combined total of 540 million. The funding will be delivered in three streams: - 425 million for Local Governments direct formula-based funding; - 100 million for Strengthening Communities by addressing needs of vulnerable populations and community safety; and, - 15 million for Development Services. The objective of this federalprovincial funding is to inject liquidity into the local government system to help them address operational cost pressures caused by COVID-19 impacts. Formula-based funding was distributed to local governments in November 2020 and the application-based funding launched in early 2021. Throughout the recovery period, the Ministry will continue to support local government infrastructure projects through the existing funding streams available under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program ICIP. ICIP, as a 10-year agreement, will provide continued infrastructure funding that will support projects through medium- and long-term economic recovery windows. In addition, two new short-term infrastructure programs have been delivered to support recovery-focused projects. First there is the multi-Ministry program, Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program CERIP, that will support 90 million in community infrastructure grants. Secondly, there is the joint federal-provincial ICIP COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream with a combined 136 million in funding. These programs will offer 100 infrastructure grants for projects over a wide range of categories including tourism and heritage infrastructure, community resilience, retrofits, repairs and upgrades to public buildings, active transportation and disaster mitigation. The Ministry will continue to stay engaged with UBCM on the available infrastructure funding programs and local government infrastructure needs.