Local government leaders took their ideas for new ways of generating money for municipalities to Victoria last week.
Prince George Coun. Murry Krause, who sits on the Union of B.C. Municipalities board as a director at large, was involved in the meetings with cabinet ministers and MLAs April 2 to 4 as part of the organization's annual Advocacy Days.
Part of the UBCM representatives' task was to champion a recently endorsed report - Strong Fiscal Futures - highlighting the local government financial weakness of having to depend on property taxes.
"We acknowledge, and certainly the province acknowledges, that our primary source of income is land-based taxation," said Krause. "What are the other opportunities out there? It really is about us working together."
Financial support from the province isn't designed to counteract declining revenue to municipalities from property tax when local economies change and grow, according to the report by a UBCM committee on local government finance.
But it can't be simply coming to the table and asking for things, said Krause.
"What we need is a conversation," he said. "So rather than UBCM just putting forward recommendations or requests, we would sit down and have a process whereby we would have a conversation with the provincial government about future revenue opportunities."
Among the opportunities the committee identified are the realignment of the property tax structure, changing the traffic fine allocation agreement and creating a revenue-sharing fund the province pays into during profitable years.
"The key is here trying to work out something that works for communities. It's not just an adversarial approach," Krause said, adding the government members were receptive to the UBCM ideas. "We know that you get more by trying to work together. So the key is to have those conversations and look where there's support."
UBCM board members also had the chance to cement commitments to their other priorities.
Krause, who deals with child poverty and First Nations relations issues with UBCM, said both Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux and Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister John Rustad reaffirmed their commitments to those initiatives.
At last September's UBCM convention in Vancouver, delegates endorsed a plan to engage in a year of reconciliation with First Nations communities.
"So we're looking at some activities that would really show our commitment to reconciliation and we've been working with the federal government and the province to look at what we might do this year," Krause said. "We're hoping to see something roll out fairly quickly."
