The three councils did not endorse the report, District of Lunenburg Mayor Don Downe emphasized — rather they accepted it so that residents can look at it and say what they want.
The Regional Governance and Shared Service Delivery Review was carried out for the District of Lunenburg and the towns of Bridgewater and Mahone Bay by Marathon Human Resources Consulting Group Ltd. of Dartmouth.
The three councils met jointly in Mahone Bay’s firehall Monday evening, shortly after the report was presented to staff.
“I’ve got to say I’m really pleased that they want to go in this direction,” John MacDonell, the provincial minister of Service Nova Scotia and municipal relations, said in an interview.
MacDonell said the municipalities have shown initiative, and he’s happy with the report.
“It would be our hope they embrace the recommendations,” he said.
But the minister said the province won’t pressure any municipalities to share services or amalgamate.
“The premier has made it clear the government is not interested in forcing this upon them,” he said. “This is something we’d like to see develop from the ground up, from the municipalities.”
The report presents two options — amalgamation and forming a joint services board.
“The regional service board is, we think, where you should be going,” consultant Brian Smith said.
After looking at the figures, “we didn’t see a lot of big savings in the hard service areas and the on-the-ground service areas” with amalgamation. “If anything, we see some under-resourcing in some of those areas,” including health and safety and community development.
But, Smith said, the municipalities should revisit amalgamation after the regional service board has been in place for three years.
“We don’t think amalgamation should be put aside forever.”
A review after three years would tell the municipalities whether the joint services board works, Smith said. If not, they should consider something else, including amalgamation.
The report recommends that any job losses that result from sharing services should happen gradually, “through attrition and transfer.” Smith said there should be no “slashing, burning and cutting.”
Downe said the regional service board is a good middle ground between amalgamation and the status quo of separate municipalities.
“This is a journey that a lot of people never thought would happen,” he said.
Bridgewater businessman Bob Richards commended the three municipalities for commissioning the study.
“It’s something the business community has been after for years,” he said.
But Richards said he’s “extremely disappointed” the Town of Lunenburg isn’t part of the process. It opted not to get involved.
The report says the three municipalities are in relatively good financial shape and doing well at delivering services compared with other municipalities in Nova Scotia. But it also says they “should take concrete steps” to share more municipal services, jointly promote economic development and improve their financial stability.
They’re being asked to do this as the percentage of working-age residents is “shrinking dramatically” and the number of retirees growing rapidly. The report says there was a 26 per cent drop in the 20-to-34 age group from 1996 to 2006. At the same time, the number of residents aged 55 to 64 grew by 52 per cent and the sector over 64 expanded by 16 per cent.
Bridgewater Mayor Carroll Publicover said the three municipalities may be in good shape now, but economic and regulatory changes coming down the road will require them to come up with new and better ways of serving residents and businesses. He credited the review with providing direction to do that.
The municipalities could raise more money by increasing taxes but they don’t want to do that.
The study recommends the new regional service board have representatives from each of the three councils and initially provide joint services in solid waste management before branching out to recreation and economic development programs.
The three councils initiated the study nearly a year ago, with the province footing half the bill.
Accepting the report for discussion means the municipalities are now well on their way to making important changes to deliver services more efficiently, said Mahone Bay Mayor Joe Feeney.
Five public hearings will be held on the report over the next two weeks — three in the District of Lunenburg and one each in Bridgewater and Mahone Bay. Details of those meetings are available through each municipality’s website, as are copies of the report and email addresses to provide feedback.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Beverley Ware
Quelle/Source: The Chronicle Herald, 16.01.2012
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