2021

Whereas the Province of British Columbia and municipalities share common goals of: a reducing carbon emissions through electrification of buildings and transportation b improving energy affordability and reducing the incidence of poverty, and c enhancing local energy resilience and self-sufficiency in municipalities and Indigenous communities; And whereas the British Columbia Utilities Commission is currently governed by outdated legislation that limits its ability to guide the transformation of BCs energy system and its ability to direct utilities to realign their activities in line with

Whereas the production of low carbon-emitting energy is important to meeting climate action goals and should be encouraged; And whereas local governments do not have the authority to incentivize low carbon-emitting energy production within the current BC Assessment property tax structure: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that a new classification be created by BC Assessment Authority to recognize low carbon-emitting energy production in BC.

Whereas section 5f of the Assessment Act - Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation B.C. Reg.

Whereas BC Assessment is a provincial Crown Corporation that classifies and values properties and local governments rely on this information to annually set property taxation rates; And whereas local governments have been increasingly impacted by the growing number of property assessment appeals submitted to BC Assessment and the Property Assessment Appeal Board and the significant period of time that can elapse between the submission of an appeal and a final decision being reached and local governments subsequently having to refund previously collected taxes from multiple years at once:

Whereas section 5e of the Assessment Act - Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation B.C. Reg.

Whereas the Inspector of Municipalities requires that new business corporations mandate the preparation of audited financial statements in their corporate articles; And whereas municipally-owned corporations may consider business ventures or partnerships with other business corporations for which the articles of incorporation may not include the requirement for audited financial statements: Therefore be it resolved that the UBCM request the Province of British Columbia to legislate changes to mandate the preparation of audited financial statements in the articles of incorporation for mun

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

Whereas section 386 of the Local Government Act requires a municipality to charge out the regional district requisition on an assessment base or as a parcel tax; And whereas when the service is billed to the municipality based on something other than assessment base, the municipality should have the option to bill said charge out based on volume flow or based on assessment and not mandated to use only the assessment base: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM write to the Minister of Municipal Affairs requesting a change be made to the Local Government Act section 386 1 c notwithstanding sec

Whereas rural area property taxes are collected from the Provinces Surveyor of taxes on behalf of Regional Districts; And whereas the Province of British Columbia charges a 5.25 percent administration fee on the taxes collected which the property owner pays as part of their property taxes, and this increases the tax burden on electoral area residence: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Province of British Columbia reduce the provincial collection fee on rural area property taxes, so that the tax burden on the rural property owners may be reduced.

Whereas the BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General under the Emergency Program Act has issued Ministerial Order M012 effective January 8, 2021 mandating that non-medical Personal Protective Equipment PPE be worn inside indoor public spaces to assist in reducing the spread of Covid-19 pandemic; And whereas this mandate has resulted in an increased financial cost for the residents of British Columbia during the Covid-19 pandemic: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request the BC provincial government eliminate the 7 percent Provincial Sales Tax applied to non-medical, disposable