City of Hamilton's key…

City of Hamilton's key comments.
Our main issue is the fairness of the levy apportionment.
The City of Hamilton falls within the jurisdiction of four conservation authorities. On January 1, 2001, the new City of Hamilton was created from the amalgamation of the upper tier municipality of Regional Municipality of Hamilton Wentworth and lower tier municipalities of Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Glanbrook, Hamilton and Stoney Creek. Prior to amalgamation the assessment from the lower tier municipalities was used in the apportionment of the conservation authorities (authorities or CA) levies.

With the principle from the Conservation Authorities Act of “Benefit Derived”, our request is that the Regulations require that either:
1. If lower municipalities are part of the formula, then only the assessment of the previous lower tier area of the amalgamated city be considered; or,
2. For the purposes of determining the levy allocation, only the assessment of the upper tier and single tier municipalities be considered

Other comments are around clear and consistent definitions of financial terms. While the proposal does consider operating expenses and capital costs, it does not consider operating revenues, capital revenues, operating budget surpluses or deficits, capital project budget surpluses and deficits or reserves. In addition, long term financial plans and multi-year budgets for capital and operations are needed from the CAs to assist municipalities with our long term planning.