Grey Highlands Mayor Brian Mullin is taking the argument that Conservation Authorities need more funding directly to the provincial government.
Mullin is in Ottawa this week for the annual Association of Municipalities 2008 conference.
The AMO conference is the largest municipal conference held each year and it brings together municipal, provincial and federal officials to discuss various public policy issues.
Grey Highlands council met last Friday morning and briefly discussed the conference and what matters municipal representatives attending the event would pursue with provincial politicians.
Corporate Services Administrator Karen Wallace informed council that Grey Highlands representatives would meet with Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield at the conference.
Funding for Conservation Authorities is going to be discussed at the meeting. In the mid-1990s the provincial government virtually eliminated any operating funds it provided to Conservation Authorities.
Since that time operating costs have been born by the municipal property taxpayer.
"Conservation Authorities benefit all Ontarians, but only the property taxpayers fund them," Wallace noted at Friday's meeting.
"The financial demands are a hardship for our ratepayers," she said. Wallace said CA funding has grown from $48,393 in 2001 to $129,750 in the 2008 budget.
Wallace said those numbers translated into a 168-per-cent increase for the 6,900 property taxpayers in Grey Highlands.
The large geographic size of Grey Highlands means that municipality is a member of three Conservation Authorities. It sends tax dollars to the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority and the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority.
"We're going to ask them to consider a shift in funding," Mullin said at Friday's meeting.
In addition to discussing Conservation Authority funding issues, Mayor Mullin will also be investigating several other issues including: capital funding for a new Markdale Hospital and energy issues related to the Electrical Safety Association.
Members of council asked if the Mayor should bring extra information about CA funding in other municipal jurisdictions in order to really make the point that provincial funding is desperately needed in that area.
Wallace said it was best if Grey Highlands keeps its message focused and on topic.
"The ministers see so many representatives at these meetings we want to focus on our own area," she said.
