NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
While the territorial government continues to mull over a new funding approach for communities, the Northwest Territories Association of Communities (NWTAC) has officially launched a campaign advocating for more municipal dollars.

NWTAC CEO Sara Brown and communications and policy manager Shannon Crawley introduced the My Community Matters campaign May 8 at the organization's 49th annual general meeting. The campaign advocates for increased overall funding, a commitment to index that funding, a modernization of municipal funding formulas and continued support for community government capacity.

Crawley said one of the messages of My Community Matters is to celebrate communities and inform residents about the types of services community governments provide. However, in order to provide those services, adequate municipal funding is vital.

"We want people to have the ability to use their communities to their maximum potential. People value being able to walk on well-maintained roads and people value trusting that their drinking water is safe," she said.

"Communities are where we live our lives, raise families and have friends, work and survive. This is where we experience the losses, if the community government doesn't have enough to provide the services that are essential for our daily lives."

Currently, the pressure is on community governments to make sure they can provide those services - a responsibility the territorial government gave to municipalities in 2007 as part of what they dubbed the New Deal. At that time, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) decided to invest $28 million in community infrastructure each year. That number has not increased since.

"A lot of communities have been saying for years, 'We don't have enough,' and they're continually having to scramble to find funding," Crawley said.

"We've likened it to communities 'limping along' because they're very resourceful and they've been very patient about waiting for their time to get the money they need."

NWTAC's campaign comes on the heels of a community funding review completed by MACA in 2014, which found municipalities have been underfunded to the collective tune of nearly $40 million per year across three funding categories.

Those categories include a $23.4 million shortfall for municipal infrastructure, a $7.6 million shortfall for operation and maintenance and an $8.3 million shortfall for water and sewer.

Grace Lau-a, community operations director with MACA, said the total shortfall is actually closer to $37 million and noted that gap in funding could be completely closed if the government implemented a new funding formula for municipalities based on need instead of population, although it could take time to fully implement a new model.

However, that can't progress beyond the initial 2014 review until after the territorial election.

"At that point in time ... (municipal funding) is one of MACA's bigger (issues) that we'll be presenting to the new government," Lau-a said.

"If the new funding model is fully applied, we don't expect it to happen in one year. $37 million is quite a large number, so we're trying to come up with some realistic implementation options."

During NWTAC's annual general assembly, represented municipalities passed a resolution on community funding, which is now the organization's official position. That resolution makes an urgent call for funding changes and for the formula to be adjusted in time for the 2016-17 fiscal year. In the meantime, the resolution calls for phased-in funding increases this fiscal year.

Additionally, the resolution seeks for municipalities who stand to lose funding under a new need-based model to be "grandfathered" in - meaning no municipality would initially see a funding drop.

Lau-a said no changes would likely be made to the funding model until December or later.

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