2012 January MUNICIPALITIES TODAY

ELECTION OUTCOME NOTIFICATION

Municipal Affairs would like to remind municipalities that The Local Government Election Act requires a municipality to notify the Minister of Municipal Affairs of the outcome of any elections. This includes the names and addresses of those elected or re-elected to council (even by virtue of acclamation) in addition to the names of those candidates defeated. 

Municipalities can meet the requirements of the Act by completing the municipal election results electronic form, available on our website at www.municipal.gov.sk.ca/mert.

If you require assistance completing the form, please call (306) 787-8885.

In addition to submitting your municipal election results, municipalities are encouraged to update the municipal directory, accessible at http://www.municipal.gov.sk.ca, as soon as election results are known. This will ensure the directory remains an important link between municipalities, government ministries and the public.  If you have questions regarding accessing and updating the system, please e-mail muninfo@gov.sk.ca or call (306) 787-4340.

97 YEARS AND COUNTING

Municipal Affairs is considering repealing The Municipal Debentures Repayment Act and is seeking feedback from municipalities. Originally enacted in 1915, The Municipal Debentures Repayment Act has not been amended (except to update names) since then. This Act enables municipalities to extend the terms of their debentures to the estimated lifetime of their said work or undertaking. The purpose for introducing this Act was to avoid imposing unduly heavy annual levies upon the general tax rate and to enable distributing the burden of taxation equitably. The current municipal Acts provide for authority to retire old debentures and reissue new ones if there is a need to extend the repayment terms making The Municipal Debentures Repayment Act redundant and unnecessary.

We want to know:

• Does your municipality have an outstanding bylaw that applies to this Act?
• Has your municipality passed a bylaw extending the repayment terms of debentures using this Act?
• Would repeal of this Act create any problems for your municipality?

If your municipality has concerns or is planning to use authority under this Act, please provide your feedback by February 15, 2012 to Sheila Xie, CMA, Senior Financial Policy Analyst at (306) 787-1086 or sheila.xie@gov.sk.ca.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS PROGRAM APPLICATION DEADLINE

Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration is once again inviting proposals for the Community Connections Program. Community Connections provides funding to support the integration of immigrants into their communities. Deadline for applications is Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 4 p.m.

Please refer to the Call for Proposals and Appendix A for more information describing Community Connections and the application process. Both documents are available in the Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration website: www.aeei.gov.sk.ca/call-for-proposals-december-2011.

TWEET TWEET - POKE POKE

 The Ministry of Municipal Affairs is now on Twitter! Do you want the latest updates from the Ministry? Want to know more about the programs and services offered or get more details about funding? Be sure to visit the Municipal Affairs twitter profile - your one stop for regular Municipal Affairs updates.

Follow our Twitter profile by visiting: https://twitter.com/#!/SKGovMA.

Learn more about how the Ministry plans to use Twitter: http://t.co/4Zh3iRwz

Even if you are not a Twitter user yourself you can still visit our profile to view all the latest updates!