2022 October

Tax Enforcement

Your annual list of lands in arrears is required to be presented in duplicate to the head of council (mayor or reeve) no later than Nov. 15 as legislated in The Tax Enforcement Act (Act). The Act lays out the specific steps and time frames in which the tax enforcement process must be followed. For additional information on tax enforcement, download:

• Tax Enforcement Procedures Manual
• Tax Enforcement Forms, Resources and Webinars

Public Disclosure Statements

Public disclosure statements help assure the public that, when a member of council is elected to office, their decisions are made in the best interest of the municipality. They also:

• Have a direct impact when dealing with a conflict of interest;
• Assist with transparency and accountability as pillars of good governance; and
• Assist the public’s understanding of any dealings that may compromise the council member’s ability to make decisions.

Public Disclosure Statements are public documents. They should be kept where they are easily accessible and made available for the public to view.

Council members have an ongoing duty of disclosure and the responsibility to complete and update their public disclosure statements:

1. When submitting their nomination papers for an election and within 30 days of being elected using a Municipal Public Disclosure Statement
   The Statement must be submitted with the candidate’ nomination papers. A new Statement must be completed by the council member within 30 days of being elected.
2. Annually during their term of office using the Public Disclosure Annual Declaration
   As per section 142 of The Municipalities Act, this form must be filled out annually on or before November 30 with or without any updates. If there are no updates, it must still be completed stating such.
3. Whenever a change occurs using the Public Disclosure Statement Amendment
   This form is required to be filled out any time a change in the information has occurred. For example, a sale/purchase of land or change in occupation.

The filing of both the public disclosure statement and the public disclosure annual declaration is one of six eligibility requirements for municipalities to receive their Municipal Revenue Sharing grant.

Download the Public Disclosure Guide for more information.

The Municipal Election Results Reporting form has been updated! If you have the former URL bookmarked, please replace it with the following link:

https://municipalelection.saskatchewan.ca

Municipalities are reminded to submit their municipal election results, for both general elections and by-elections, to the Ministry of Government Relations as soon as possible after an election.

Section 140 of The Local Government Election Act, 2015 requires the administrator/city clerk/clerk to notify the Minister of Government Relations of election results. To comply with section 140, notification is to be provided online using the new form above.

If you have any questions regarding submission of the election results, please contact grcompliance@gov.sk.ca.

Municipalities are asked to update the Municipal Directory System (MDS) with any changes to their contact information, changes on council resulting from municipal elections or administrator changes.

The MDS is a provincial database the public uses to:

• Locate a municipality's contact information;
• Find out the hours the municipal office is open; and
• Learn the names of elected officials who serve that community.

If you have forgotten your username or password to access the MDS, or if you are encountering difficulties entering in your municipal information, please contact muninfo@gov.sk.ca.

Did you know that Saskatchewan is consistently one of the top two jurisdictions nationwide whose GDP is primarily driven by export sales? Exports remain a crucial part of the province’s current and future economic strength, generating growth and incredible opportunities for the people of Saskatchewan.

Access to export markets is facilitated by Saskatchewan’s participation in several trade agreements. Under these agreements, procurement data is required from Saskatchewan municipalities, as well as other entities, on an annual basis. To gather and submit this data, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Trade and Export Development conducts an annual survey.

You were recently invited to participate in this survey through an email sent from Trade Procurement Reporting on October 14, 2022. Your participation in this survey is greatly valued and responses will be due by end of day December 2, 2022. Please ensure to check your email to confirm receipt of the survey link.

Before beginning the survey, consider reviewing the Guide and the Procurement Calculation Tool included with the survey link. These documents are provided solely to assist in understanding and complying with the reporting obligations. They are not intended to be an interpretive guide, do not constitute legal advice, and do not replace the specific obligations of trade agreements.

Should you have any questions, please email tradeprocurementreporting@gov.sk.ca.

Decisions of the Saskatchewan Construction Standards Appeal Board (the Appeal Board) are now available on the Publications Centre.

The Appeal Board is established by The Construction Codes Act for three primary purposes:

• Hearing appeals of building officials’ orders;
• Determining applications for exemption from accessibility standards; and
• Determining applications for interpretations of construction codes.

Effective Jan. 1, 2022, The Building Code Regulations permit the Appeal Board to publish records of its decisions, as long as information that might identify parties involved in appeals has been removed.

Publishing Appeal Board decisions provides Saskatchewan building owners, local authorities, designers and contractors with insight into how the Appeal Board determines appeals and applications.

Please contact Building and Technical Standards at btstandards@gov.sk.ca or 306-787-4113 if you have any questions.

Is your municipality doing something innovative to better the community? Are you collaborating with neighbouring municipalities to achieve regional goals?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, submit a nomination for the 16th Annual Saskatchewan Municipal Awards, sponsored by Affinity Credit Union.

Nominations are now open! To submit a nomination or obtain more information, visit municipalawards.ca. Nominations must be submitted by 4 p.m. on November 25, 2022.

The deadline to submit applications for projects under the Targeted Sector Support (TSS) Initiative is 11:59 p.m. on November 15, 2022. Municipalities are encouraged to submit their grant applications as soon as possible.

The TSS Initiative provides cost-shared grants, up to 75 per cent on eligible costs, to municipalities partnering to strengthen their core municipal responsibilities through projects focused on regional co-operation, capacity building and good governance. Applicants must be a municipal government and partner with at least one other community, such as other municipalities and First Nations.

Each year, TSS receives $1.5 million from the Municipal Revenue Sharing Grant program. Funds are administered by the Saskatchewan Association of Urban Municipalities (SUMA), on behalf of the TSS Steering Committee, which consists of SUMA, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskatchewan Association of Northern Communities and the Ministry of Government Relations.

Examples of past TSS-funded projects include:

• training to enhance the governance skills of municipal officials;
• developing regional emergency plans;
• completing a joint parks and recreation plan;
• co-ordinating asset management;
• harmonizing official community plans and zoning bylaws;
• undertaking a municipal district feasibility study; and
• various other projects aimed at strengthening collaboration and co-operation among communities.

For more information on eligibility, program funding and how to apply, visit the TSS Initiative webpage.

Each fall, residents across Saskatchewan are encouraged to install working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms during Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 10-14, 2022) and during Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week (the first week in November).

Under Saskatchewan's Building Code Regulations, it is mandatory that buildings with sleeping rooms must have both smoke and CO alarms installed.

Your community's residents can choose from many different types of alarms to suit their circumstances and building's layout: hard-wired alarms, 10-year battery-operated alarms, and in the case of CO alarms, ones that can be plugged into your electrical socket.

Encourage your residents to visit www.saskatchewan.ca/smoke-co-alarms to learn more about these alarms and where to install them in their homes.