Opposition urges a responsive Budget 2010 for municipalities

Marshall Dean, MHA for the District of the Straits - White Bay North and Opposition Critic for Municipal Affairs, says municipalities need a comprehensive fiscal agreement with the province to help sustain them in the long-term and he is hoping Budget 2010 will finally deliver that support.

Dean raised the issue today in the Legislature urging government to live up to its commitment of developing and implementing a new fiscal arrangement with municipalities by 2010. 

“Municipalities are increasingly challenged to deliver services with a minimum amount of money and they need to be able to generate more revenue. While government recognizes this challenge and have committed to working with municipalities, the work has yet to result in a solid and comprehensive fiscal arrangement.”  

Dean points out that Budget 2009 proved to be a disappointment to municipal stakeholders, including Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, since many of their recommendations were not reflected in the budgetary items. “These recommendations included increases in municipal operating grants (MOGS) for smaller municipalities and enabling larger municipalities which have maxed out in current programs to leverage more provincial infrastructure money.  Debt relief measures and HST rebates would also help communities address many of their shortfalls. Government postponed implementing a new fiscal arrangement with municipalities arguing that its revenues were affected by global and provincial economic conditions.

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