Last week I attended an historic event: the inaugural meeting of the B.C. Mayors' Caucus.
It is the first time that the mayors of B.C. have gathered together. We are seeking a new partnership with the provincial and federal governments. The provincial government created a municipal auditor general's position, suggesting local government financial mismanagement, and yet B.C. communities represent the smallest piece of the public revenue pie. Local government should not be the only target for financial review. A hard look needs to be taken at federal and provincial operations as their audits generally indicate financial management shortcomings.
Local governments receive less than 10 per cent of the total public revenues; 90 per cent are kept at the provincial and federal levels and yet the municipal share of public infrastructure in Canada represents 65 per cent. We have limited revenue sources - over 50 per cent of our revenues come from a property tax that does not grow with the economy. On top of this imbalance, we are experiencing "mandate creep" like never before as the provincial and federal governments continue to download responsibilities as a means to manage their deficits. This downloading occurs when governments stop delivering a service, reduce or eliminate a grant program that supports local service delivery, legislates a shift in responsibility to the local level, or do not increase funding as demand grows.
As mayors we outlined a number of specific areas that need to be addressed including:
1. Create a Premier's Roundtable with the B.C. mayors to discuss public policy changes that affect local government budgets and delivery of services.
2. Eliminate the ad hoc granting process in favour of one that is sustainable, accountable, quantifiable and allows for long-term planning.
3. Expand the mandate of the municipal auditor general to include an examination of the financial impacts of downloading.
4. Develop a roundtable on aging infrastructure that includes federal, provincial and local government participation.
5. Affirm core service delivery of each order of government.
6. Redesign the cost-sharing formula for significant infrastructure projects to reflect the tax revenue distribution.
7. If services are devolved to local governments, a sustainable revenue source for those services must be identified.
8. Develop a coordinated approach to how social services are delivered into a community.
9. Establish flexibility around the federal gas tax to be goal oriented to the priorities of the specific communities.
At the close of the meeting we all agreed that there was a need for immediate discussion, beginning with the premier and cabinet, to examine the state of B.C. communities, and specifically, for a more efficient use of existing resources to better address the challenges facing our residents.
