Whereas the Province of British Columbias Improvement District Governance: Policy Statement 2006 establishes a framework that encourages the eventual conversion of improvement districts to municipal or regional district jurisdiction with the main tool being prohibiting improvement districts access to provincial sewer and water infrastructure grants and long-term borrowing through the Municipal Finance Authority; And whereas these policy constraints limit improvement districts ability to finance required infrastructure renewal and regulatory compliance, creating significant financial barriers to both continued independent operation and orderly conversion, and increasing the likelihood that deteriorating systems and unfunded liabilities will ultimately be transferred to regional districts without adequate transition support, provincial guidance, or in any shape worthy of conversion: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request the Province of British Columbia to modernize the Improvement District Governance: Policy Statement 2006 to remove structural financial barriers to the sustainability and orderly transition of improvement districts, including by enhancing provincial oversight capacity, enabling improvement districts to access long-term borrowing through the Municipal Finance Authority of British Columbia, and removing barriers to enable improvement districts to access provincial sewer and water infrastructure grant programs.
