Delegates at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Convention in Saskatoon gave their approval to most of the resolutions before them Tuesday, with one exception.
A motion to switch to staggered municipal elections was defeated Tuesday afternoon.
Had it passed, the resolution would have called upon the government to stagger municipal elections so half of the council would be elected during one municipal election cycle, with the other half elected at another municipal vote two years later.
However, delegates defeated the resolution. According to SUMA’s Twitter feed, concern was cited about costs as well as voter fatigue.
Other resolutions received the approval of delegates Tuesday. They include:
A resolution supporting the provincial government’s opposition to a national carbon tax;
A resolution where SUMA calls on the government to allow municipalities to add fines related to bylaw enforcement to the tax payroll;
A resolution calling on the province to allow municipalities to add building permit fees to the tax roll;
A resolution seeking clarification from the federal and provincial governments as to why the National Disaster Mitigation Program is unavailable to municipalities in Saskatchewan, when it is made available to municipalities in other provinces;
A resolution calling on the province to review of all permitting and inspection systems under provincial jurisdiction to ensure environmental impact assessments, regulation and inspections are in place to protect municipal water sources.
