Whereas many small rural municipalities face significant financial challenges due to limited tax bases, increasing infrastructure costs, aging transportation assets, and growing service delivery demands; And whereas municipal governments are increasingly required to allocate substantial property tax revenues toward the maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement of secondary and local roads and bridges that serve broader regional transportation functions and would otherwise be maintained by the Province in unincorporated areas: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Province of British Columbia undertake a review of the current allocation of road maintenance responsibilities in small rural municipalities and develop options to return responsibility for secondary roads and bridges to provincial jurisdiction where appropriate; And be it further resolved that the Province establish a framework, in consultation with local governments, to assume responsibility for the maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement of eligible secondary roads and bridges within small rural communities, recognizing the limited fiscal capacity of these municipalities and the provincial nature of transportation infrastructure.
