2024 January

As 2024 begins, administrators and staff are likely preparing for year-end and new year start-up for their municipality.

For a listing of key monthly tasks, legislative responsibilities and deadlines, please refer to:

• The Administrators’ Legislative and Operational Calendar, or
• The Northern Municipal Administrators’ Legislative and Operational Calendar

Everyone has likely heard some mention of municipal districts, but what exactly are they?

Simply put, a municipal district (MD) is a municipality, just like a city, resort village, rural municipality or town. People aren’t familiar with municipal districts because none currently exist in Saskatchewan, even though our legislation has had provision for their creation since 2014. Although this is a new concept in Saskatchewan, several other jurisdictions across Canada have had regional municipal bodies for some time.

MDs are not rural, and they are not urban. They are a fusion of separate rural and urban municipalities into one larger regional community. Most municipalities in rural areas of our province are already closely connected and have a history of collaboration on various undertakings with their neighbours (think protective services, regional landfills, district planning). Forming an MD is the next natural step to community growth. It is a way to blend municipalities into one larger, more cohesive governance unit, making it healthier and more robust. Just as so many other aspects of our society have changed, this too is an opportunity to modernize and better meet the needs of today’s citizens by building capacity and offering more efficient and effective delivery of municipal services.

Why would municipalities want to merge as one MD? Some of the many benefits include:

• Opportunity for modernization;
• Increased capacity;
• Staff recruitment/retention/specialization;
• Economies of scale;
• Reduced duplication; and
• Regional sharing of future economic growth.

A condensed version of the steps involved in the successful creation of an MD are:

1. After much discussion, the councils of at least one rural municipality and at least one urban municipality come to a mutual agreement to proceed with creating the new municipal district.
2. The councils meet to negotiate various terms and conditions to assist with the formation of the new municipal authority, taking into consideration the new governance structure, electoral system to be used, staffing, assets, service delivery, etc.
3. Public consultation is conducted to keep the citizens informed of all activities.
4. After the councils have considered the public’s input and completed any additional analyses to help with their decision-making, an application is sent to the Minister requesting their restructuring to an MD.
5. If the application is considered favourable, a Minister’s Order is signed establishing the new MD.

Are you interested in learning more? The Advisory Services and Municipal Relations branch would be happy to talk with you and your neighbours to provide additional detailed information and answer any questions. Please feel free to contact Judy Kanak at 306-530-3918.

Municipalities own and operate a range of public facilities that may be frequented by children and their families. Recently, the Ministry of Social Services updated its Child Abuse Protocol. This 2023 document is being shared so all professionals across the province can support police and the Government of Saskatchewan to prevent, detect, report, investigate and prosecute child abuse cases and support children who have been abused. You may also wish to review the Duty to Report pamphlet, which outlines the legal duty to immediately report if there is suspicion that a child’s physical or mental health/welfare has been, or may be, impacted by abuse or neglect.

For more information in English or in French, visit the Child Abuse and Neglect page on saskatchewan.ca.

Saskatchewan is part of a number of trade agreements, including the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA), the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), and the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Each agreement contains procurement provisions to which municipalities are subject in the MASH category. The “MASH” acronym is short for municipalities and publicly funded academic institutions, school boards and health organizations, as well as any corporation or entity owned or controlled by one or more of these entities.

Unlike the fixed thresholds of the NWPTA, the CFTA and CETA procurement thresholds are adjusted for inflation every two years. The updated thresholds for 2024-2025, which came into effect on January 1, 2024, are available for download from the Government of Saskatchewan’s Publications Centre.

If you have any questions, please contact either Lyndi Blakley at 306-787-8910 or Lyndi.Blakley@gov.sk.ca, or Jesse Tremblay at 306-787-5638 or Jesse.Tremblay2@gov.sk.ca with Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Trade and Export Development.

Saskatchewan building owners are responsible for compliance with construction codes. Local authorities are responsible for administering those codes and enforcing compliance.

The Construction Codes Act states that local authorities in Saskatchewan are responsible for administering and enforcing:

• The Construction Codes Act (the CC Act);
• The Building Code Regulations (the BC regulations);
• Any Ministerial Interpretations made pursuant to the CC Act;
• The orders of the local authority’s appointed building official; and
• The decisions of the Saskatchewan Constructions Standards Appeal Board.

The CC Act provides tools to assist local authorities in carrying out their administration and enforcement of the CC Act.

• A local building bylaw ensures owners are aware of their responsibilities for compliance, and it provides the local authority with tools to enforce the requirements of the CC Act. Effective January 1, 2024, local authorities that have not adopted a building bylaw in accordance with the CC Act are deemed to have adopted the model building bylaw provided by the regulations.
• The appointment of a building official provides a local authority with the ability to review plans prior to permitting construction and to verify the adherence of construction to the requirements of the CC Act, the BC regulations, the National Building Code and the local authority’s building bylaw.
• The CC Act and the BC regulations provide additional tools to assist local authorities to administer and enforce construction codes. These tools allow:
  • Building official orders to be registered on the land title registry;
  • Costs of enforcement to be added to the property taxes of a building;
  • Municipalities to require a deposit or bond before a building permit is issued; and
  • Pre-rulings by the Saskatchewan Construction Standards Appeal Board where there are differences in interpretation of a construction code.

Please contact Building and Technical Standards at btstandards@gov.sk.ca or 306-787-4113 if you have any additional questions or need more information about the duty of local authorities to administer and enforce the construction codes.

Mandatory training for secretaries and members of local boards of revision was implemented on January 1, 2023. Last month, the Ministry of Government Relations sent out a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and certification component of the initiative. Feedback and suggestions collected through this survey will be used to make continuous improvements to the property assessment appeals system.

The survey was emailed to all secretaries of certified local boards of revision on December 12. The ministry asked all secretaries to take the survey and forward the survey email to their board members so they also could participate.

Secretaries and members of the board of revision are asked to complete the Board of Revision Training and Certification evaluation survey by January 31, 2024.

Feedback and suggestions are valuable to the success of the initiative. The ministry thanks you for participating in the survey and for your ongoing support in helping ensure an efficient and effective property assessment appeal system.

The deadline for submission of the online Declaration of Eligibility is January 31, 2024.

To avoid your municipality's Municipal Revenue Sharing (MRS) grant for the 2024-25 year from being withheld, ensure your municipality submits its online Declaration of Eligibility and that your municipality meets all eligibility requirements. Please refer to the Declaration of Eligibility Guide, Infographic or the Declaration of Eligibility Webinar for additional information on the declaration process and the eligibility requirements.

The unique link and password for the online MRS grant Declaration of Eligibility were emailed to each municipality on November 15, 2023. If you did not receive this, please email grcompliance@gov.sk.ca requesting the email be resent.

A completed declaration requires a council resolution confirming the eligibility requirements the municipality meets. The ministry does not require a certified copy of the resolution unless your municipality is selected for audit. If you’re an administrator who hasn’t yet submitted the online declaration, please ensure the Declaration of Eligibility is on your January council meeting agenda for a resolution from council.