2012
Financing Municipal Services: A Lawyer, an Engineer, and an Accountant are Driving Down the Road ...
Constructing, expanding, and upgrading municipal services and systems, and particularly capital services such as sewer, drainage, water, parks, and highways can be expensive. Determining how to pay for such services can also be a complicated task. This paper will serve as a primer on several options for financing municipal services, specifically:
(i) General services and parcel taxes;
(ii) Local area services;
(iii) Development works agreements pursuant to s. 937.1 of the Local Government Act;
(iv) Works and services requirements and agreements under Division 11 of Part 26 of the Local Government Act, including latecomer agreements; and
(v) Development cost charges.
This paper focuses on servicing options in municipalities. The statutory provisions that relate to general and local area services in regional districts are different from those discussed here for municipalities, and so caution should be taken in applying the guidelines below to regional districts.