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Cclg Act Ec Dev Toolkit 8 May2012
- 1. Examples of What the Local Government Act and Community Charter Offer to Further Economic Development: An E-toolkit BC Economic Summit: Taking BC Global Richmond, British Columbia, 15 May 2012 1
- 2. Community Charter & Local Government Act Local Government Act Community Charter 2
- 3. Overview Fair Taxation & Regional/Community Business Investment Economic & Promotion Cost Recovery Development • Business • Revitalization Tax • Corporations Improvement Areas Incentive • Inter-municipal • Commissions Harmonization of • Corporations Regulation • Service Agreements with First Nations • Societies 3
- 4. Business Investment & Promotion: Business Improvement Area 4
- 5. Picture BC Fair Taxation and Cost Recovery: Revitalization Tax Incentive 5
- 6. Picture BC Regional/Community Economic Development: Corporations 6
- 7. Regional/Community Economic Development: Inter-municipal Regulatory Harmonization 7
- 8. 8
- 9. Thank you Darby Cameron Regional Economic Policy and Projects Branch | Economic Development Division | Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation darby.cameron@gov.bc.ca 250-952-0614 9
- 10. Questions? 10
Editor's Notes
- What are theLocal Government Act and Community Charter?The purposes of these Acts (Community Charter and Local Government Act) are to provide a legal framework for local governments to represent the interests and respond to the needs of their communities. In both cases the acts provide the flexibility for local governmentsto respond to the different needs and changing circumstances of their communities.Underutilized opportunities exist within the act to further economic development.
- Essentially Business Improvement Areas (BIA) support community beautification, promotion, cleanliness and safety. A BIA is a self-help tool for the business community to agree to be taxed within a particular geographic area to raise the funds to be used to promote business.Opportunities:For property owners and tenants, a BIA is an effective way of increasing sales and profits and to organize and finance programs that would not be available to individual businesses by any other means. For the council, a BIA provides a highly motivated sector of the community with the means to improve their businesses and stimulate the local economy. The council will contract with a society or corporation to carry out the business promotion action. A spectrum of opportunities exists based on collaboration between the municipality and BIA. At the heart a BIA is the “business promotion scheme”, which means: carrying out studies or making reports respecting one or more areas in the municipality where business or commerce is carried on; improving, beautifying or maintaining streets, sidewalks or municipally owned land, buildings and other structures in one or more BIA; the removal of graffiti from buildings and other structures in one or more BIA; and encouraging business in one or more BIA.Limitations:The purpose and operation parameters for the BIA must be clearly stated and a maximum budget set out in municipal bylaw. Council oversight must also be in place, which consists of approval from the BIA members and then presentation to the council. Notably, many BIA are experiencing capacity issues due to communities expecting them to expand the scope of their work beyond economic development to include more environmental, cultural and social issues. This opportunity is not available to regional districts.Example:One of the organization’s notable initiatives was the creation of the Clean Team in May of 2005 to keep downtown streets clean and attractive. The team of eleven works seven days a week cleaning sidewalks, removing 5000-7000 graffiti tags a year and works with the City to conduct an annual Spring Clean Up. The Clean Team is likely unique in North America in as much as it is fully comprised of individuals who have faced abnormal challenges in their lives. When the team was created, DVBA was grappling with the many social issues that were sweeping North America and playing out on the streets. In an effort to give a hand up to those who were facing such challenges, DVBA has consciously hired only those in this category. It has designed the program to accommodate those challenges and, in its annual membership surveys, the Clean Team is acclaimed by downtown businesses to be a saving grace to the attractiveness of downtown Victoria. The DVBA was awarded the Solicitor General’s Crime Prevention & Community Safety Award in 2005 because of the nature of this unique team.
- Revitalization Tax Incentives authorized by Section 226 of the Community Charter can be utilized to encourage community economic development. Municipal councils are provided authority to exempt property (land and/or improvements) from municipal property value taxes.OpportunityA Revitalization Tax Inventive can be used to encourage and achieve a range of environmental, economic or social objectives. Economic revitalization might include encouraging investment and employment.LimitationsRevitalization tax exemptions are limited to municipal property value taxes [Section 197(1)(a) of the Community Charter only] and do not extend to school and other property taxes or parcel taxes. An exemption may be granted for up to 10 years. This tool is not available to regional districts.ExampleThe Official Community Plan for the City of Chilliwack identified the revitalization of the downtown as a priority. In 2004, the Community Charter was introduced, offering a new revitalization tax exemption opportunity. As a result of this, the City of Chilliwack established a downtown revitalization tax exemption program. Council may now enter into an agreement with property owners within the designated areas and upon issuance of an exemption certificate to the assessor, those improvements are exempt from municipal property value taxes for a period of time not longer than five years, and with a single renewal period of one year (year 6).The annual estimated municipal property tax exemption per each $100,000 of assessment at the 2011 tax rates are: Class 1 - Residential $433; Class 6 - Business $963
- A municipality or a regional district can incorporate or invest shares in a corporation to provide/support regional/community economic development that private corporations could otherwise be unable or unwilling to provide.OpportunityVentures that may not attract the private sector because of insufficient profit margins can be attractive to communities at low rates of return because they may produce other, non-monetary benefits. Local government corporations have the ability to joint venture with the private sector. The private sector can provide expertise and capital to assist local government. Municipalities or regional districts have the opportunity to provide regional/community economic development while limiting legal liability, protecting the local government from financial risk, engaging external expertise, freeing council and board time, achieving economies of scale and using an operating model distinct from a local government department. Regional districts would have to first establish an economic development service (see Designing Regional Service Arrangements: An Introduction).LimitationsLimitations include liability, financial risk, potential income, tax implications, potential conflict of interest, challenges around communication and relationship building with local government departments having needed expertise, and performance metrics can be difficult to establish.ExampleIn 2005 the City of Revelstoke incorporated the Revelstoke Community Energy Corporation (RCEC). This Neighbourhood Energy Utility is a low temperature community energy system that delivers steam to local industry and hot water for space and water heat to buildings. The system is comprised of a biomass fired 1.6 MW boiler with 1.76 MW back-up. In terms of economic benefit, RCEC helps to reduce the amount of money that flows out of the community (leakage) through purchase of power. The City of Revelstoke also has more local control over the price of power, as the power source is locally controlled. By using waste wood from the local mill to provide heat to local buildings, the city reduced the amount of money being used to transport the waste wood to other communities for disposal or other uses. This provides more money for other purposes, such as investment.
- Municipalities can enter into partnerships.OpportunityInter-municipal regulatory harmonization in regions can benefit business by reducing the effort to obtain a licence in each jurisdiction. Municipalities benefit from increased compliance and streamlined efforts to obtain compliance over a wider geographic area.LimitationsLimitations can include several requirements such as cooperation and coordination of multiple local government administrations, political will of multiple local Councils, as well as willingness to change and some initial effort to implement. Inter-municipal regulatory schemes do not apply to all business licence categories, for example, those that are not mobile in nature.ExampleCapital Region Inter-municipal Business Licence AgreementThe District of Metchosin is a small rural community in the Capital Region with a very small commercial core and an abundance of home-based businesses. Many of these home-based businesses are “mobile”, providing a variety of services around the region. They include construction contractors, towing services, professional services, and mobile sales and delivery. The inter-municipal business licence agreement allows these small businesses to work throughout the 13 municipalities in the Capital Region with a single business licence, reducing their expenses and the hassle of picking up a business licence from every municipality in which they work. Of Metchosin’s 200 business licences issued each year, approximately one-third are inter-municipal licences. The benefit of having an inter-municipal licence means that businesses seek one licence. In turn, it means that more businesses comply with the municipality’s land use bylaw and business licence bylaw.
- What are theLocal Government Act and Community Charter?The purposes of these Acts (Community Charter and Local Government Act) are to provide a legal framework for local governments to represent the interests and respond to the needs of their communities. In both cases the acts provide the flexibility for local governmentsto respond to the different needs and changing circumstances of their communities.Underutilized opportunities exist within the act to further economic development.
- What are theLocal Government Act and Community Charter?The purposes of these Acts (Community Charter and Local Government Act) are to provide a legal framework for local governments to represent the interests and respond to the needs of their communities. In both cases the acts provide the flexibility for local governmentsto respond to the different needs and changing circumstances of their communities.Underutilized opportunities exist within the act to further economic development.