SDG Counties is pleased to…

SDG Counties is pleased to see the upper-tier CIP changes move forward in Bill 60. County Council has advocated for this restriction to be changed for several years including delegations to the Minister, Council resolutions and meetings with MMAH staff. We thank the Ministry for listening to these concerns and bringing these changes forward.

Many rural municipalities have a CIP administered and coordinated by the upper-tier, including SDG, Elgin County and Bruce County. SDG's Regional Incentives program priorities include increasing commercial space, agritourism and roofed accommodation. The program has funded 110 projects with a construction value of approximately $20 million. The pooled funding allows for substantial incentives to help community development throughout the region, and also reduces the potential for individual municipalities to compete with unsustainable incentives that create a burden on the overall tax base.

However the current legislation means that the CIP document needs to be adopted by each of the local municipalities, and all of those CIPs need to be individually amended when there are major program changes. It also adds an additional step of having the funding flow through the local municipality instead directly from the upper tier, adding red-tape and delays.

Bill 60 would allow all upper-tier municipalities to have community improvement plans and directly provide funding to applicants. However, one additional step will allow Counties like SDG, Elgin and Bruce to fully streamline their CIP documents. Upper-tier CIPs are limited to prescribed matters in O. Reg 550/06 such as affordable housing and development along County Roads. It is recommended that these prescribed topics be expanded to include other economic development topics found in Section 28 of the Planning Act, so that SDG and other rural upper tier municipalities can fully implement their economic development CIPs without additional administrative burdens for local municipalities. Alternatively, Section 28 could be amended to remove 28 ((4.0.1)).