Pre-1983 Sewer & Water Debt & Related
Grants
Background
 The Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services has
been providing assistance for Sewer and Water debt issues by means
of a grant to offset required debt payments. For our more recent
debt issues, grants are made available up front when the Regional
District or Municipality enters into a debt issue with us; however,
for debt issues prior to Issue #66, the Ministry was providing
funding on an annual basis and requiring our clients to complete
an application in order to receive this funding.
In an effort to eliminate this annual application process for
those issues prior to issue #66 and remove the associated liability
from the provinces' books, Ministry staff approached the MFA and
inquired about he possibility of the MFA taking over administration
of the grant monies relating to these early debt issues. Using
Ministry data and the year 2001 as a base year, we determined the
annual allocation for each affected member out to either the end
of their borrowing bylaw or future stop payments date as determined
by the MFA (whichever came first). The application process has
therefore been eliminated and instead, members will receive semi-annual
payments based on these calculated allocations. These payments
will be made by cheque in the middle of July and January to cover
the related debt invoicing periods from January 1st through June
30th, and July 1st through December 31st respectively. These payments
will be of equal magnitude and on an annual basis, should equate
to the level of grant received for the 2001 Calendar year.
FAQ's
How do we know if we will be receiving these grant payments from
the MFA?
If you were on the list provided to us by the Ministry, then
your Regional District or Municipality has already been contacted
with
a schedule of payments. If you have not received such a schedule
and feel that you should be on this list, please contact the
MFA at the contact information listed below.
How will these grant payments affect our semi-annual debt payment
invoicing by the MFA?
Your Regional District will continue to be invoiced for all debt
in exactly the same manner and according to the same amortization
schedules as before. In other words, there will be no change
to the debt invoicing process.
What about grant amounts relating to CMHC debt?
The Ministry has indicated that separate arrangements will be
made directly with Municipalities and Regional Districts with
regard
to these amounts. For further information in this regard, please
contact the Ministry using contact information given below.
Why is the amount of the grant based on 2001 figures lower
than what we actually received in 2001?
Any portion of the 2001 grant received that related to non-MFA
debt (such as CMHC - see above) or that related to debt issued
which expired or were stopped in 2001, will not appear on your
schedule. MFABC debt issues continuing on past 2001 were allocated
a proportion of the 2001 grant on a pro-rated basis, depending
on the proportion of individual issue debt payments to the total
of all issues debt payments in 2001.
What about Issue #28? Our debt repayments increase each year -
shouldn't the grant amount increase too?
When the Ministry originally calculated remaining grant amounts,
this debt issue's unique repayment terms were not taken into
consideration. Members participating in this issue have been
given their first
grant installment based on 2001 figures; however, we are currently
discussing our concerns with the Ministry in this regard and
hope to amend our arrangements with them in order to allay
our members'
concerns and top up these payments. Note that this is the only
MFABC debt issue currently running for which these conditions
apply.
We are participating in debt issues denominated in US dollars
- what about exchange rate changes that will increase our debt
payments?
The ongoing grant amounts you will receive are based on 2001
amounts. Should the exchange rate increase above the highest
level in 2001,
we will increase related grant amounts in proportion to this
increase. Otherwise, grant amounts will remain at stated levels
even if the
exchange rates drop. This means that no Regional District or
Municipality will lose out if exchange rates do increase.
Why are grant payments made by cheque rather than electronically?
Cheques are currently the most efficient method by which to distribute
these grant monies. While cheques require only an address which
we already have on file, electronic payments would require
additional banking detail which we currently do not have. With
over 90 members
participating in this grant program, providing all payments
by cheque using the same format allows us to prepare these
payments
quickly and account for them accurately.
Contact
For more information or questions about the MFA's Administration
of Sewer and Water Grant amounts, please contact Renata
(250) 380-0432, ext. 227 or Graham.
For questions relating to non-MFABC Sewer & Water-related
Grants and debt, please contact:
Mr. Jim MacAulay, CA
Manager of Financial Operations
Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services
PO Box 9490 STN PROV GOVT
#4 - 800 Johnson Street Victoria, BC V8W 9N7
Email: Jim.MacAulay@gov.bc.ca
Telephone: (250) 387-9179
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