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The Public Affairs Update is your weekly insight, perspective and analysis on politics in British Columbia and Canada. This newsletter is brought to you by the largest, and most broadly-based business organization in the province, the BC Chamber of Commerce - the Voice of Business in BC. |
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Union of British Columbia Municipalities Annual Convention Begins Monday
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The annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention is scheduled to begin today in Victoria. One of the first issues to be discussed will be the funding of community services and alternatives to property taxes to fund these services.
Specifically, mayors are looking for new sources of revenue from the BC government in order to finance the growing costs of added responsibilities incurred from provincial and federal governments.
In a policy paper released in May, the Business Council of BC compared the provincial government's rate of spending to that of 21 Metro Vancouver municipalities. The report found that local governments' spending increased by an average of 32 per cent between 2000 and 2010, while provincial spending increased by 10 per cent in the same period.
Greg Moore, Mayor of Port Coquitlam and the UBCM executive's representative for Metro Vancouver, said the federal and provincial governments are responsible for some of the municipal cost pressures. As such, municipalities are proposing new sources of revenue, such as receiving a share of the carbon tax or provincial sales tax, to pay for municipal services.
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