New look for region proposed
Published Friday December 19th, 2008
Reid Southwick
Telegraph-Journal
SAINT JOHN - An independent commission on local governance recommends amalgamating municipalities and local service districts across Greater Saint John into five new jurisdictions.
A new regional service district would deliver a range of services for the five new ‘entities’ proposed for the Greater Saint John area, under recommendations by local governance commissioner Jean-Guy Finn.
A new regional service district would deliver planning, solid waste management, policing, emergency measures and economic development services for these five jurisdictions, or municipalities.
Provincewide, the number of municipalities and unincorporated areas would be dramatically reduced to 53 from 368. The new municipalities would be grouped into 12 regional service districts.
The controversial recommendations came Thursday in a much-anticipated report by local governance commissioner Jean-Guy Finn.
Premier Shawn Graham told the legislature the province will not act on the recommendations in the near term because he fears they may be too costly during a period of economic upheaval.
The proposals would shift considerable revenues from Fredericton to municipalities, costing the province an estimated $88 million.
"What is clear today is that there was a price tag attached to this report." Graham said. "At this time of economic restraint and of prioritizing the needs of New Brunswickers, we recognize that this report is an important process that was undertaken, but our priority is the economy."
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase is approaching the recommendations with a degree of caution. Chase praises the call for greater regionalization of services, although he is not sure whether the new governance model would bring more funds to the city.
Finn proposes eliminating the province's unconditional grant system, which currently provides Saint John with about $19.5 million. The commissioner says the province should compensate for this loss of revenue by providing municipalities with funding equivalent to non-owner-occupied residential taxes and a portion of non-residential taxes.
"What will we be gaining in that tax room that's being proposed?" Chase asked. "Are we going to be worse off, given that we're losing our unconditional grant, plus the fact that we have new areas to service? Or will we be better off? There is a whole analysis that needs to be undertaken."
The Finn report recommends creating five new municipalities from Saint John, Grand Bay-Westfield, Hampton, Rothesay, Quispamsis, St. Martins and 11 unincorporated areas.
Saint John would be merged with Musquash and portions of the Westfield, Lepreau and Simonds unincorporated areas, or local service districts.
Finn says in his report amalgamations would make local governments more viable by increasing their size, boosting their tax base and promoting more efficient delivery of service.
"The current structure has too many government entities for the populations they serve and deprives many New Brunswickers of effective participation in the affairs of their communities," Finn writes in his report.
"This multiplicity promotes duplication, fragmentation and inefficiency of services, while creating issues of responsibility, accountability and viability at the local level."
Finn's report recommends a new regional district should deliver a series of services to five new municipalities. The region would span from Musquash to St. Martins, and north to Greenwich, Kingston and Hampton.
Already, municipalities within the region share costs for solid waste services, with the Fundy Solid Waste Commission, and economic development services, through Enterprise Saint John in the western area and Enterprise Fundy in the eastern area.
As well, local service districts receive planning services from one of two district planning commissions.
Finn recommends eliminating these boards and commissions and replacing them with a single regional district.
"This would create a much better service, a more seamless, more comprehensive service, that would make much more sense for this region," Chase said. "We're really one economic zone to begin with. We're really one policing zone to begin with, because crime doesn't have a boundary."
Chase said sharing policing costs across the region may reduce the burden on Saint John, where costs are currently a little more than $20 million.
"From Saint John proper's perspective, it may soften our policing costs if it is spread more equitably across that region," Chase said. "That doesn't suppose that Rothesay or Quispamsis will have a heavy burden. There may be more of an increase for them, but I don't think it would overburden them, yet it would soften the burden for Saint John."
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