AMM calls for conservation assessment change

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Rural municipalities are losing prime real estate because habitat conservation groups are acquiring them, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities’ annual convention heard.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/11/2016 (3237 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rural municipalities are losing prime real estate because habitat conservation groups are acquiring them, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities’ annual convention heard.

“What’s the value of them gobbling it up?” asked Rossburn Mayor Brian Brown, while referencing one property the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) purchased three kilometres east of Rossburn, in an interview yesterday.

“We’re 20 miles from Riding Mountain National Park, which is a conservatory for animals already — it’s huge. Why do we want to keep making the park bigger, essentially, by buying land around it?”

Brown said corporations with a conservation mandate are benefiting from a cheap assessment — the same 26 per cent rate agricultural land receives.

Delegates at AMM’s convention passed Rossburn’s resolution, lobbying the province to implement a higher assessment class of 35 per cent for conservation groups acquiring land. The three-day event ended in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

Lots purchased by conservation groups are often left in their natural state, the resolution explained, resulting in low assessments and low property taxes.

The municipality would prefer families resided on these lots, which would prompt construction and additional tax revenues. He mentioned 240 acres purchased by NCC near Rossman Lake, a resort community, will sit empty instead of potentially becoming cottage lots.

Corporations like NCC often pay an inflated price for land to remove from or limit agricultural growth. The assessment branch, Brown said, then determines the organization’s property taxes based on their assessed market value instead of what they paid for the lot.

Rossburn’s resolution was one of nearly 50 proposals voted on at this year’s AMM convention.

A number of resolutions from Westman municipalities were endorsed.

Drainage was a key issue presented, with the Municipality of Russell-Binscarth asking the province to tell Saskatchewan to stop its drainage practices, which, Mayor Len Derkach believes, impairs Manitoba infrastructure.

Increasing flow from Saskatchewan enters his municipality from several spots, overwhelming places like Smith Creek dam and subsequently causing significant erosion and flooding in Russell-Binscarth and downstream.

“The current situation has created wealth through improved farmland for Saskatchewan, at the same time increasing Manitoba costs on infrastructure and reducing farmland assessment due to flooding and land being taken out of production,” the resolution read.

The municipality acknowledged governments are seeking long-term solutions, but the need for help is immediate.

“(The resolution is) our way of expressing a priority item within the municipality and we’re calling on the government to pay attention to this,” Derkach said.

In addition to inter-provincial lobbying, Russell-Binscarth wants Manitoba to establish a compensation fund to offset any infrastructure repair costs and assessment losses.

“We spend thousands of dollars each year repairing infrastructure that is washed away,” Derkach said.

A Municipality of Two Borders resolution asked the province to pay conservation districts to remove flood-related debris like fallen trees from waterways.

The debris can clog waterways, devastating in case of a repeat of the 2011 and 2014 floods.

“They aren’t an immediate problem, but they are just another unfortunate legacy of the floods we experienced,” Reeve Debbie McMechan said.

Two Borders also wants the province to encourage municipalities to take part in inter-municipal conservation projects.

McMechan was discouraged an inventory of water infrastructure, developed by their conservation district, was not adopted by some municipalities when the offer was extended to them.

It was a free program for Two Borders, and she understands other municipalities may have been asked to pay a nominal fee.

“Where that information can be made available for a minimal cost, it can have great benefit to all municipalities,” she said.

In an apparent reference to last year’s bid in the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa to censure a councillor, their resolution asked the province to amend the Municipal Act to provide municipalities with a “more comprehensive process for addressing continuous Code of Conduct breaches by a council member.”

In a joint resolution supported by the RM of Wallace-Woodworth, provincial help is sought by newly amalgamated municipalities to reduce the cost of changing the legal names of land titles.

A resolution jointly sponsored by the Town of Minnedosa suggests the regulatory requirements on volunteer organizations and non-profit groups like halls, community libraries and museums be reduced. The annual audits currently pose a financial hardship, the resolution claimed.

As well, the City of Dauphin does not want people curious about the Manitoba Health Card to be referred to municipal offices. The city indicated health care is under the purveyor of the province.

The 2017 AMM convention will be held in Brandon in the last week of November.

» ifroese@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ianfroese

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