Economic Crisis Response Program

According to the 2011 MNL Census of Municipalities:

•11.7% of small municipalities (fewer than 1000 residents) have economic development committees

•27.9% of medium municipalities (between 1000 and 4000 residents) have economic development committees

•88.2% of urban municipalities (more than 4000 residents) have economic development committees

Municipalities and Economic Development

NL’s municipal sector

The remuneration of municipal councils:

•74% of responding municipalities pay their mayor between zero and $2000 per year

• 77% of responding municipalities pay their deputy mayor between zero and $2000 per year

• 81% of responding municipalities pay their councillors between zero and $2000 per year.

NL’s municipal sector

Municipal ResponsibilitiesSnow clearing Conducting elections

Fire Protection Animal control

Maintaining and improving local roads Garbage collection

Economic development Waste Mng.

Providing clean drinking water Represent residents

Collecting municipal taxes By-Law Enforcement

Providing and maintaining recreation facilities

Managing emergencies

Maintaining local parks

Ensuring street lights remain on

Planning, prioritizing, managing capital works project

Managing municipal debt

Ensuring adequate training for administrators and council

NL’s municipal sector

•specific need for single industry towns, towns in crisis, and vulnerable communities

•Two primary purposes of the ECRP:

•Assist how municipalities react to industry or businesses leaving a municipality.

•Assist municipalities with being proactive in how they address planned or potential losses of industry or businesses.

Rationale for ECRP

•Primarily focused on communications.

•Municipal governments often the first point of contact when something bad happens in a municipality.

• Industry or business leaving is a different sort of bad event than an accident or natural disaster.

•Effects can be more long lasting, and require a suitable response. Just being angry and voicing the collective displeasure of residents is not constructive.

ECRP Assisting municipalities with reacting to industry

•Understanding the situation

• Three phases of transition

• First: Pre-closure: up to one year before departure of business or industry. Time when all preparation must occur.

• Second: Period immediately following closure up to 6 months

• Third: Period after 6 months up until 5 years

• The last two phases should involve implementing plans established in the pre-closure period.

ECRP assisting municipalities being proactive

•Understanding the situation

• Infrastructure

• Legacy left by departing industry business may be positive.

• Usually infrastructure is already in place. Can be used to entice new or different industries to municipality.

• Trained workers may exist in municipality or region.

ECRP assisting municipalities being proactive

•Understanding the situation

• Cost of not being proactive

• ECRP sets out the likely results for a municipality that does not have a succession plan in place to deal with the departure of industry or business

• Out-migration, declining property values, declining municipal revenue, loss of hope in the community

• Have seen this happen across the province over the past 20 years.

ECRP assisting municipalities being proactive

• In general, the ECRP is an economic development tool for REDBs to use with municipal governments.

• Most municipal governments do not have the capacity to properly go through the ECRP. Municipal governments need REDB assistance with this.

• All municipalities that have or had industry or business in their municipalities over the past 5 years should go through the ECRP.

• It will result in the establishment of a general plan that would never be considered as part of a municipal plan, ICSP, or emergency plan

ECRP and REDBs

Thank you