FREDERICTON (GNB) – The Department of Environment and Local Government tabled its 2016-17 departmental estimates today in the legislative assembly.

“At the Department of Environment and Local Government, we administer many exceptional programs that make New Brunswick a better, cleaner place in which to live,” said Environment and Local Government Minister Brian Kenny. “We have done a great deal of work to live within our means and find innovative ways to continue to fulfil our mandate while respecting our current fiscal climate.”

The total budget for the department is $138.5 million, including $1 million in capital spending through a loans program helping local service districts.

Highlights:

  • $200,000 to undertake additional technical testing and environmental assessment related to the ongoing Sisson Mine environmental review and approval process;
  • an increase of $285,000 in Community Funding and Equalization Grant core funding; and
  • improvements to, and modernization of, local governance, through a number of initiatives aimed at creating viable communities, including:
    • modernizing legislation to give municipalities the authority to promote development and to become hubs of job creation;
    • improving voluntary community restructuring;
    • requiring that any future municipal amalgamations or annexations meet the criteria for viability set out in the Finn report; and
    • encouraging municipalities and local service districts to consider mergers, where appropriate, by favouring viable communities through infrastructure funding programs. 

Information about the department’s programs and services is available online.

 

01-03-16