MVA WOES CONTINUE
Cuts ‘create uncertainty’
Changes to the provincial law governing the Meewasin Valley Authority (MVA) create more financial uncertainty, the agency’s chief executive officer says.
The Saskatchewan Party government introduced changes to the legislation this week that eliminate the requirement for set annual funding for the MVA from the provincial government and the University of Saskatchewan.
The MVA is already coping with a $409,000 cut in provincial funding and a five-per-cent cut in university funding in 2017.
“It certainly creates, again, significant uncertainty,” CEO Lloyd Isaak said Wednesday. “We’ve been living with uncertainty since June when (the province) tabled their previous budget.”
In total, the combined reductions for 2017 amount to a 17-percent cut from previous funding levels, Isaak said. The agency, which governs conservation and development in the South Saskatchewan River Valley, will receive a $500,000 grant from the province in 2017 and $647,000 from the U of S.
The university’s share has been reduced by five per cent to reflect a spending cut in the provincial budget.
Future funding from the province and the U of S will rely on grants, rather than guaranteed funding under the legislation. The MVA was founded as a partnership between the province, the university and the city in 1979.
“The fact that the statutory funding aspect has been removed, and removed so quickly, is troubling,” Isaak said.
A report commissioned by the province shows the statutory funding was split in 2015-16, with $740,169 from the province, $556,700 from the City of Saskatoon and $570,000 from the U of S. The city also provided $417,900 in supplementary funding, while the province added $169,000 and the university $110,273.
The MVA’s 2016 combined operating and capital budgets totalled $4.3 million. The agency also relies on grants and donations. It’s expected to table its budget at its April 7 board meeting.
Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Ken Cheveldayoff, whose ministry oversees the MVA, said the province, city, university and MVA will continue to talk about the agency’s future.
“Absolutely, I have optimism and I’m very encouraged when I see Meewasin stepping up their efforts to increase fundraising from the private sector,” Cheveldayoff said Wednesday. “We’ll just continue to work together in the best interests of Meewasin and the city.”
The report by MNP consultants, dated Nov. 30, 2016, helped guide the province’s thinking on continued provincial funding. After the Saskatchewan Party’s 2016-17 provincial budget, the government announced MVA funding would be reviewed. The study compared the MVA to eight other “urban/conservation” parks and concluded most are funded principally by municipalities.
“The MVA funding model is relatively unique,” the report says.
Isaak said he took exception to the comparators used in the study, pointing to the Niagara Escarpment Commission and the Toronto and Region Conservation Agency as better examples.
The report concludes there is “rationale” for removing funding from the province and leaving it completely to the City of Saskatoon. The exception, the report adds, is that the provincial parks ministry has an interest in making sure Crown lands within the Meewasin conservation zones are properly maintained.
The report notes Crown land accounts for 41 per cent of the MVA’s conservation zone, or 2,609.9 of 6,359.57 hectares. The Ministry of Agriculture owns most of this — 2,471.68 hectares.
For the City of Saskatoon to take over the MVA would cost $1.58 million a year or a property tax increase of nearly one per cent (0.78 per cent), the report says. It also suggests the MVA needs a sharper focus and a vague mandate has resulted in expanded responsibilities.
“The MVA has not had a clear mandate historically; instead, the mandate appears to have gradually evolved over time,” the report says.
The fact that the statutory funding aspect has been removed, and removed so quickly, is troubling.