A collaborative process is now underway to review the way provincial and municipal tax revenues are distributed, says Finance and Municipal Affairs Minister Wes Sheridan.
The review responds to the Commission on Land and Local Governance recommendation that the provincial government initiate consultations with municipalities to establish a process for the implementation of an equitable transfer of tax room.
Minister Sheridan met this week with the president of the Federation of PEI Municipalities and the mayors of Charlottetown, Summerside, Stratford and Cornwall to discuss new tax sharing options.
“As minister with responsibility for both finance and municipal affairs, I am very pleased that we have been able to initiate this collaborative process,” said Minister Sheridan. “We are all optimistic about working together to review our taxation systems, examine other models, and develop a fair and predictable solution that works for us all.”
A sub-committee of senior staff from the province and municipalities will be established to carry out the review. It will meet in mid-April and report every three months to a steering committee of the minister, the four mayors and the Federation of Municipalities president.
“Municipalities are very pleased to be full participants in this process,” said Federation of Municipalities president Bruce MacDougall. “We look forward to exploring options that could provide municipalities with a more progressive funding model and more predictability in projecting revenues.”
The report of the Commission on Land and Local Governance is available at www.gov.pe.ca/landandlocalgovernance.