Municipal grants act canada

Municipal Grants General Regulations

made under Section 37 of the

Municipal Grants Act

R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 302

O.I.C. 2024-111 (effective April 1, 2024), N.S. Reg. 72/2024

Table of Contents

Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.
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Citation

Definitions

Classification of municipalities

Number of dwelling units

Municipal financial capacity grant eligibility

Calculation of unitized expenditure rate

Calculation of derived standardized expenditure for municipality

Calculation of uniform assessment for municipality

Calculation of standard rates

Municipal financial capacity grant entitlement

Municipal financial capacity grant amount freeze

Town foundation grant

General condition for grant payout

Citation

1 These regulations may be cited as the Municipal Grants General Regulations.

Definitions

2 In these regulations,

“Act” means the Municipal Grants Act;

“derived standardized expenditure” means the amount obtained by multiplying the number of dwelling units for the current year by the unitized expenditure rate;

“Minister” means the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing;

“transitional support program” means a financial top-up program to ensure that a municipality’s annual municipal financial capacity grant funding entitlement is at least equivalent to the amount of the municipality’s 2014–15 municipal financial capacity grant;

“unitized expenditure rate” means the rate obtained by dividing the previous year’s operating expenditures estimate by the number of dwelling units from the previous year.

Classification of municipalities

3 For the purpose of calculating municipal financial capacity grant entitlements, municipalities are classified as follows:

(a) Class I, comprising regional municipalities and towns; and

(b) Class II, comprising county and district municipalities.

Number of dwelling units

4 (1) The number of dwelling units in a municipality is based on the annual filed assessment roll.

(2) Dwelling units owned by the federal Department of National Defence and dwelling units located on Indian reserve lands are not included as dwelling units for any purpose under the Act or its regulations.

Municipal financial capacity grant eligibility

5 A municipality is eligible for a municipal financial capacity grant under subsection 8(1) of the Act if the municipal financial capacity grant calculation for the municipality results in an entitlement to an amount greater than zero.

Calculation of unitized expenditure rate

6 (1) The municipal financial capacity grant for a municipality is calculated using the unitized expenditure rate for the class of the municipality.

(2) The unitized expenditure rate is calculated for each class of municipality based on the estimates of the previous year’s operating expenditures and the previous year’s dwelling units.

(3) The estimates of operating expenditures referred to in subsection (2) must be provided to the Minister by the municipality by September 30 or a later date determined by the Minister.

(4) The unitized expenditure rate will approximately equal the average estimated operating expenditures per dwelling unit of all the following services, described in the Financial Reporting and Accounting Manual made under the Municipal Government Act:

(a) 50% of general government services, not including valuation allowances;

(b) protective services;

(c) transportation services;

(d) environmental health services;

(e) 50% of recreation and cultural services;

(f) environmental development services.

(5) The Minister must provide the details of the calculation of the unitized expenditure rate for a municipality to the clerk of the municipality upon request.

Calculation of derived standardized expenditure for municipality

7 The derived standardized expenditure for a municipality must be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

derived standardized expenditure = A × B

in which

A = the unitized expenditure rate for the class of municipality

B = the number of dwelling units in the municipality for the current year.

Calculation of uniform assessment for municipality

8 (1) The uniform assessment of a municipality is equal to the taxable assessment of the municipality minus 25% of the taxable assessment of commercial properties identified on the assessment roll as being occupied by a seasonal tourist business plus the capitalized value of payments made to the municipality in lieu of taxes and tax payments made to the municipality by a utility, but does not include any of the following:

(a) the building, pump stations, deep-well pumps, main transmission lines, meters and associated plant and equipment of a municipal water utility;

(b) the assessed value of property of a named registered Canadian charitable organization or non-profit community, a charitable, fraternal, educational, recreational, religious, cultural or sporting organization or a day care licensed under the Early Learning and Child Care Act, if the property is exempt by municipal bylaw to the extent and under the conditions set out in the bylaw.

(2) For the purpose of calculating the uniform assessment of a municipality under subsection (1), if, under an enactment, the municipal tax revenue for an assessment in a municipality is shared by another municipality, the assessment is deemed to be in that other municipality to the extent that the revenue is shared by that other municipality.

(3) For the purpose of calculating the uniform assessment of a municipality under subsection (1), estimates of assessment must be provided to the Minister by the municipality by September 30 or a later date determined by the Minister.

(4) The Minister may make further adjustments to the figure obtained under subsection (1) if, in the Minister’s opinion, it is required to achieve uniformity among municipalities.

(5) The Minister must inform each municipality of the uniform assessment calculated for it.

(6) A municipality may, within 60 days of the date of the Minister’s calculation of its uniform assessment, request a review by the Minister, and the Minister’s decision is final.

(7) If estimates of assessment are not provided under subsection (3), the uniform assessment and any other calculation that would be calculated using the estimates of assessment may be calculated using any information the Minister considers reasonable.

(8) For the purpose of calculating the municipal financial capacity grant for a municipality, the uniform assessment is separated into the following components:

(a) residential uniform assessment; and

(b) commercial uniform assessment.

Calculation of standard rates

9 (1) A standard rate will be set for each class of municipality and within each class of municipality a standard residential rate and a standard commercial rate will be set.

(2) The standard residential rate for each class of municipality must be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

standard residential rate for each class of municipality = A × B

C

in which

A = the total derived standardized expenditure for all municipalities in the class for which the standard residential rate is being calculated

B = the average proportion of residential uniform assessment in the class

C = the total residential uniform assessment for all municipalities in the class for which the standard residential rate is being calculated.

(3) The standard commercial rate for each class of municipality must be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

standard commercial rate for each class of municipality = A × B

C

in which

A = the total derived standardized expenditure for all municipalities in the class for which the standard commercial rate is being calculated

B = the average proportion of commercial uniform assessment in the class

C = the total commercial uniform assessment for all municipalities in the class for which the standard commercial rate is being calculated.

Municipal financial capacity grant entitlement

10 (1) The municipal financial capacity grant entitlement for a municipality must be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

municipal financial capacity grant entitlement = A - [(B × C) + (D × E)]

in which

A = the derived standardized expenditure for the municipality

B = the calculated standard residential rate for the class

C = the residential uniform assessment for the municipality

D = the calculated standard commercial rate for the class

E = the commercial uniform assessment for the municipality.

(2) If the result of the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement calculation is less than zero, the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement is deemed to be zero.

(3) The municipal financial capacity grant for a municipality is equal to the proportion that the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement for the municipality is of the total municipal financial capacity grant entitlements for all municipalities multiplied by the total municipal financial capacity grants.

Municipal financial capacity grant amount freeze

11 (1) Despite Section 10, the allocation of the municipal financial capacity grant amount for each municipality will be frozen for each fiscal year from the 2024–25 fiscal year up to and including the 2028–29 fiscal year, or for a longer period substituted by the Minister after consulting with the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities.

(2) During the freeze period in subsection (1), the grant amount to be used for a municipality is equal to the allocation that the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement for the municipality was of the total municipal financial capacity grant entitlements for all municipalities multiplied by the total municipal financial capacity grants as calculated in the 2022–23 fiscal year.

(3) Under the transitional support program, if the amount obtained for a municipality under subsection 11(2) is less than the amount received by the municipality for its municipal financial capacity grant for the 2014–15 fiscal year, then the difference between those amounts will be provided to that municipality each year for the period specified in subsection (1).

(4) When the freeze period in subsection (1) expires, the Minister may resume the application of the formula to calculate the municipal financial capacity grant for a municipality set out in Section 10.

Town foundation grant

12 (1) The amount of a town foundation grant payable under subsection 19A(1) of the Act is $50 000 annually.

(2) Each town in the Province is an eligible town under subsection 19A(1) of the Act.

General condition for grant payout

13 For the purpose of subsection 19B(1) of the Act, in addition to the grants identified in the Act, “grant” includes all of the following:

(a) the Nova Scotia Power Incorporated grant in lieu of property tax;

(b) the farmland grant in lieu of property tax;

(c) the HST offset grant;

(d) the fire protection grant.

Legislative History
Reference Tables

Source Law

The current consolidation of the Municipal Grants General Regulations made under the Municipal Grants Act includes all of the following regulations:

The following regulations are not yet in force and are not included in the current consolidation:

*See subsection 3(6) of the Regulations Act for rules about in force dates of regulations.

Amendments by Provision