Conservation authorities across the province are making adjustments to cope with steps taken by the Ford government.
The Province has cut its annual grant to the Conservation Authorities by 49 percent – although, as Sheryl Flannagan of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority noted, “It wasn’t a large amount” to begin with.
For the NVCA, it means a loss of $91,000, in a budget of just over $5 million; for the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, a loss of $65,000 in 2020. Both Conservation Authorities have taken steps to largely absorb the cuts.
There is another factor, adding to uncertainty for the coming year: Bill 108, passed in May of 2019. Bill 108, titled “More homes, More choice,” includes changes to the Conservation Authorities Act, mandating natural hazard protection and management, conservation and management of conservation authority lands, and protection of drinking water sources as top priorities; allows municipalities to determine how the CAs will allocate tax dollars; and streamlines the municipal approvals process.
Nearly a year after the bill was approved, the Conservation Authorities are still waiting to see the details.
In the meantime, both the NVCA and LSRCA were in Innisfil Council on Wednesday night, to present an overview of their 2020 budgets, and the impact on the Town of Innisfil.
The NVCA’s jurisdiction covers 43 percent of the municipality; the remaining 57 percent falls under the LSRCA, and the Lake Simcoe Protection Act.
Flannagan, filling in for NVCA Chief Administrative Officer Doug Hevenor, explained that the Authority was facing an increase of $245,000 in “unavoidable costs” in 2020, in addition to the loss of $91,000 in provincial transfer dollars.
“We found a way to absorb, cut expenditures and increase revenues” to cover almost 75 percent of the increase, Flannagan told Innisfil Councillors – but there will be an additional $9,311 added to last year’s $175,540 levy, to make up the difference. The increase represents a charge of 17 cents per resident.
The NVCA is also asking for an additional $9,491 for asset management, bringing Innisfil’s 2020 levy to $185,031.
Flannagan provided a summary of the Conservation Authority’s accomplishments in 2019 - which included completion of a Risk Management Plan for 9 municipalities including Innisfil, planting 139,000 trees on 21 properties, and processing over 2,400 applications - and its plans for 2020.
Those plans include working on an integrated watershed management plan, and reducing red tape to speed up the approvals process.
Mark Critch, General Manager of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer with the LSRCA, made a similar presentation.
With nine member municipalities, circling Lake Simcoe, the larger LSRCA has a 2020 budget of $21,024,569 – funding not only from municipal tax levies, but federal and provincial grants, and partnerships.
“We’ve been looking for ways to offset, in our current budget,” Critch told councillors. “We have gone back, we have sharpened our pencils,” to absorb the loss of $65,000 in provincial transfer payments.
The LSRCA has also put a freeze on new hires, and attempted to limit increases to the cost of inflation. Calling it a “status quo budget,” Critch added, “We respect the financial pressures” on member municipalities.
The Town of Innisfil will be looking at an increase in the 2020 levy from $394,431 to $404,981, a change of $10,550.
“It’s less than 2.7 percent,” said Critch, noting that among its projects in 2019, the LSRCA completed EMS mapping to understand flooding in the watershed, held consultations on winter salt management, and completed or began 123 restoration projects, nine of them in Innisfil.
Flannagan and Critch were thanked for their presentations. Both budgets requests have already been approved by Innisfil Council.
