MVCA restructures, prioritizes to ease cash crunch

The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) plans to “do fewer things, better” in response to ever-increasing financial pressure, says the authority’s general manager.

At the Aug. 5 Minto council meeting, MVCA general manager Phil Beard outlined the 2014 to 2016 plan for restructuring of priorities and services approved by the authority’s board of directors last March.

“We just don’t have the resources to offer the same range of services that we have over the past 50 years, or to maintain all the infrastructure and equipment that we own,” Beard told council.

The MVCA plans to focus on strengthening flood and erosion safety and watershed stewardship efforts.

“In order to strengthen these service areas, we need to reduce the amount of resources that we are putting into conservation areas and some aspects of watershed stewardship,” Beard explained.

The MVCA has approximately $3.4-million worth of equipment and infrastructure to manage, most of which is aging and in need of major maintenance or replacement.

Facilities such as the Gorrie Mill or Logan Mill in Brussels, while attractive and historic, are unused and expensive to maintain, Beard pointed out, adding the board was looking at options for the facilities over the next few years.

Councillor Ron Elliott asked whether Beard expected resistance to arise from local communities in reaction to closing or scaling back such facilities.

“I’m sure it will,” said Beard. “People just don’t understand that cost of maintaining old buildings and buildings that aren’t used …

“Certainly the communities love having those dams and ponds there, but if there’s no money to replace them and do the major maintenance then what do you do?”

Beard explained the board is currently working on a request for proposals to lease out the Falls Reserve Campground in time for the 2016 season.

“The infrastructure needs major upgrading and we don’t have the resources to upgrade,” he stated, noting the campground includes about $1 million worth of infrastructure the authority hopes to ‘off-load.’”

Water resources engineer Steve Jackson told council that in terms of flood and erosion safety, flood forecasting is first among things the authority needs to do well.

“Changes in our climate are resulting in higher probability for intense rainfall events, such as the thunderstorm that hit the Molesworth area on July 16, 2005. This thunderstorm produced over 200 millimetres of rain in several hours,” said Jackson, who cited a 2014 storm in Molesworth that produced 71mm in one hour and a massive flood in Burlington that had occurred the day prior to the council meeting as more recent examples.

“There are several thousand residents that work and live in flood prone areas. These areas have $140-million worth of assessment, spread over 14 communities,” said Jackson, noting the authority needs to maintain a 24/7 flood forecast network in order to provide flood warning advice to first responders.

“These intense rainfall events increase the risk for damage to municipal infrastructure such as roads, culverts and municipal drains,” said Jackson, noting the authority has added a water resources technician in order to ensure the system is always fully operational.

Beard said the MVCA views strengthening watershed stewardship services as a key to supporting landowners interested in undertaking soil and water conservation projects.

“The major focus is to help landowners identify the key conservation items that will help them keep soil nutrients on the land and out of our watercourses,” he explained, pointing out there are over 470,000 acres of prime farm land in the watershed, worth close to $4.7 billion.

Developing a stable funding base is a priority for the authority, which Beard points out is operating on 1993 funding levels due to years of cutbacks from the upper levels of government, while expenditures continue in 2014 dollars.

The provincial contribution to the MVCA’s operations has been frozen at $70,000 since 1998, he noted.

However, Beard said the MVCA board is still hoping to limit the total levy increase for the 14 municipalities in the watershed to between $55,000 and $58,000 a year for the next two years. The authority has set a target to having $50,000 worth of levy to direct toward maintaining essential infrastructure and equipment by 2016 and plans to reduce tangible capital assets from $3.4 million to less then $2 million over the next three years.

Councillor Mary Lou Cowlell, while expressing appreciation for the MVCA’s efforts to keep levy increases down, wondered, “How in the long term can you make up the deficit?”

“That’s the $64,000 question. That’s something that the board and staff will have to work on over the next three years,” replied Beard.

“I’m hopeful that the province and feds will, through the events they are seeing, see the value in reinvesting. But I think it’s probably more likely we’ll see municipal finance reform before we see that.”

Beard said officials from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario have told him they would be in a better position to finance conservation authorities if their own financial situations were stabilized.

Beard said the major flooding in Calgary and Toronto in the past year has “galvanized” the federal government to take action. However, he said the $240 million over five years for the entire country that has been announced won’t be enough to do everything that’s needed, given that $360 million is required for flood control mapping alone.

“The program needs to be 10 times larger than what was announced,” he said.

Deputy mayor Terry Fisk said, “I really think where the pressure is eventually going to come from is the insurance industry. Because they can’t keep paying these huge insurance bills for flooding … I think they’re the people that can put the pressure on our upper levels of government to get them moving on this.”

Beard agreed, but pointed out “they’re not going to provide flood insurance unless they know the risk. And to know the risk, we need to provide the up-to-date mapping.”

Mayor George Bridge said he isn’t counting on federal or provincial funding to solve the funding crunch in this area.

“I have a little bit of a less optimistic view. I think we’re probably going to be alone on this a little bit … we can do something with a volunteer base. We’ve had to do it in Minto and we have to do it in small towns,” said Bridge, pointing to the recent establishment of a Trees for Minto committee as one example of volunteer efforts.

“I know we don’t pay the lion’s share or at the top end, but we try to contribute where we can and certainly we’ll be a solid partner going forward,” said Bridge.

Beard said he agreed any federal or provincial help is unlikely in the next five years and he thanked the municipality for its support.

“We appreciate your support and your contribution,” he said.

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