I am hosting a second meeting to discussion municipal amalgamation in this region on Monday November 8th at 2915 Douglas Street - we are in a meeting room accessed through Liquor Plus.
The first meeting I hosted at my home and was pleasantly surprised at the turn out. This meeting I hope to have us move forward with some idea of what we want accomplish in the next six months. We have the energy from enough people that there is the start of a movement or group to explore, educate and advocate for better local governance in this region.
In encourage everyone to come because there is no one single model that is the right answer for Victoria. Where ever you stand on this issue, however educated you are on this issue, there is a role for your input.
With all certainty I can say there is no earthly way we would have current municipal structure if we were to start from scratch. I have yet to meet anyone that believes the current set up of 13 local governments is the right solution for this region. I have met people that defend their municipality existing, though this almost always comes down to fear of possible change and being overwhelmed by 'outsiders'.
Since we all can agree that the current boundaries are not a good choice for this region, we have an ethical obligation to develop something better and do this in a cooperative manner that meet everyone's interests. This current structure will change, the question will be who gets to decide how and when?
Tentative Agenda for the meeting
1) Introductions
2) Additions to the agenda
3) Choose chair for meeting and someone to take notes
4) Review of issues coming from the last meeting
5) Brainstorm issues that are negatively impacted by the current structure
6) Brainstorm list of possible models from the status quo to completely unitary CRD structure.
7) Brainstorm possible ways to move the amalgamation issue forward
8) Make some decisions on the way forward and assign tasks
9) Set the date for a next meeting
2 comments:
How much discussion of this have you folks had with with professionals and academics? There are a lot of reasonable forms of amalgamation, but there is a consensus in the public administration community that while some limited forms of amalgamation can be useful, the two-tiered system of municipalities and regions actually does a great job compared to large scale amalgamated municipalities.
Why? Because some municipal services work on economies of scale (big size = efficiency) and others work on economies of scope (small size = efficiency). In an ideal world, the two tiered system delivers us a functioning regional system of efficient economies of scale (ex: sewage and waste treatment systems) and highly effective local services (ex: protective services). Moving to a fully amalgamated system means that governments will focus on streamlining and centralizing services, meaning that some areas will benefit, while others suffer.
While I think most people would agree that 13 municipalities is excessive, especially when some have populations of over 75,000 and other have less than 5,000. But the two-tiered model is actually proven to be far more cost-effective than an amalgamated model. Let's just fine-tune the system we have, rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater.
In the interests of being balanced and fair don't forget to discuss the downsides and negative aspects of amalgamation as there are many. Perhaps commission someone to compare the average property tax rate in the CRD with the bigger urban centers as well-----you will be surprised. Perhaps also have someone look at the many failed amalgamations that have happened across the country.
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