Regionalization will roll out 'as soon as possible,' says municipal affairs minister
CBC
Regionalization is coming to most parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, says the provincial government, calling it a move that will cut costs and improve viability of rural communities.
The provincial government is reviewing the recommendations in a report released Wednesday by a joint working group on regionalization and will make a plan "as soon as possible," according to Municipal and Provincial Affairs Minister Krista Lynn Howell.
"We're at a point now in our province where we have to make some decisions, and we needed a plan to move forward to support the communities," said Howell on Wednesday.
The report recommends a regional government structure that will allow more efficient service delivery specific to each area of the province.
"There won't be a one-size-fits-all approach that we can apply to the whole island and the Labrador portion of Newfoundland and Labrador," she said.
The report includes a timeline, with boundaries for about 25 regions to be established this year and final implementation to happen in late 2024.
The report recommends regions be governed by an elected regional council of 15 members. Municipalities would retain their own councils and be allowed to continue service delivery but would also be required to contribute to regional services. But municipal councils can also be dissolved if two-thirds of members vote to do so, if for example it no longer needs to or can't provide services to residents.
Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador president Amy Coady said Wednesday that many municipalities already have agreements to share services, and regionalization would build on that.
"It will give residents and municipalities an opportunity to make themselves more sustainable by working together."
Coady argued regionalization would strengthen individual community identity, and the report recommends that individual communities retain their names.
"They'll be able to hold on to their identities," said Coady.
According to the report, 90 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador's 520,000 residents live in 275 municipalities scattered across the province. Seventy-eight per cent of those municipalities have a population of fewer than 1,000 residents.
Coady said the report was created in consultation with local service districts and unincorporated areas.
About 9.5 per cent of residents live in local service districts or unincorporated areas and don't pay municipal taxes, and Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province that doesn't generate any provincial revenue from property taxes.
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