Whereas the Fire Safety Act increases accountability for fire safety and strains financial resources of small municipalities that lack the capacity to conduct additional inspections and manage higher reporting, compliance, and training demands: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM lobby the provincial government to provide financial support to small municipalities in the form of grant funding to offset the cost of hiring of additional staff to manage new responsibilities under the Fire Safety Act; And be it further resolved that the grant funding be set at an amount to offset 100 of the cost to hire new staff in the first year, with the grant funding decreasing by 20 each year over the following five years, to allow time for small municipalities to adjust to the costs associated with implementing the Fire Safety Act.
Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs The Province is committed to having open, honest conversations with local governments about their finance system, and how to collaborate to better serve British Columbians. We understand local government concerns about increased service and infrastructure costs, especially those driven by factors like climate events and new federal or provincial regulatory requirements. The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, and UBCM are working to find ways to strengthen the financial resiliency of local governments and address cost drivers local governments may be experiencing. The Province has grant programs to support local governments with funding for operations and infrastructure. Municipalities, with populations less than 21,000, receive the annual Small Communities Grant and Regional Districts receive the Regional District Basic Grant. This unconditional grant supports small municipalities with administrative costs, including salaries. Annual unconditional grants transfer over 130 million from the province to local governments. Amendments to the legislation for Development Cost Charges DCCs expanded the scope of infrastructure eligible to be funded through DCCs to include new categories of infrastructure - fire protection, police, and solid waste and recycling facilities. These changes provide the opportunity for new sources of revenue where there is growth that will reduce the cost pressures on fire services.