Under the federal Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF), formerly called the federal Gas Tax Fund, municipalities are required to fulfil several requirements as outlined in their Municipal Gas Tax Fund Agreement. Failure to comply with these requirements can and has resulted in a municipality's payment being withheld until compliant. This page provides details on the Municipal Compliance Strategy and a brief description of the requirements municipalities must fulfil to ensure payments are not put on hold.
Strategy
The oversight committee for the CCBF implemented the strategy to ensure municipalities comply with the significant terms and conditions in their agreement. The committee includes representatives from the federal and provincial governments, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and New North.
The intention of the strategy is to:
- ensure fair treatment of all municipalities;
- ensure an appropriate level of accountability;
- ensure municipalities have sufficient time to understand terms and conditions; and
- mitigate any unnecessary risk to the CCBF.
Each municipality is required to enter into an Agreement with the province, including any amendments, by the date prescribed in the transmittal letter to receive their CCBF funding allocation. Under the Agreement, municipalities are required to fulfil several significant terms and conditions, including:
| Significant T&C | Agreement Reference | Deadline | |
| 1 | Submit Infrastructure Investment Plan:
|
Annex B, Section 3.1 |
June 1, 2015 April 30, 2020 |
| 2 | Have an approved Infrastructure Investment Plan in place:
|
Annex B, Section 3.3 | March 31, 2016 March 31, 2021 |
| 3 | Spend:
|
Schedule A: Section 3.3(a) Section 3.3(b) Section 3.3(c) |
December 31, 2018 December 31, 2023 December 31, 2024 |
| 4 | Submit Municipal Annual Expenditure Report | Schedule D, Section 1 | March 31 |
| 5 | Submit incrementality report (if population > 2,000) |
Schedule D, Section 2 | March 31, 2015 September 30, 2020 September 30, 2025 |
| 6 | Submit Capital Plan annually (cities and population > 5,000) |
Schedule D, Section 3 | March 31 |
| 7 | Submit outcomes report on completed project | Schedule D, Section 4 | Annually (municipalities will be advised of date) |
| 8 | Submit asset management reports (i.e., surveys, progress reports) | Schedule D, Section 5.2 | Various (municipalities will be advised of date) |
| 9 | Submit financial statements annually* | Recommended by Oversight Committee
|
September 1(cities) July 1 (all other municipalities) |
*The following financial statements are not acceptable:
- financial statements with a denied opinion;
- financial statements with no opinion;
- financial statements with an adverse opinion; and
- financial statements that are non-compliant with PSAB 3150 -Tangible Capital Assets
The ministry has implemented a two-step process where funds are first placed on hold and, after three consecutive payments have been held for non-compliance with any terms and conditions, the municipality will be required to repay funds and will be removed from the program.
The following measures will be taken to manage this process to ensure municipalities have sufficient time to understand and become compliant with the terms and conditions:
- Failure to meet any one of these terms and conditions by the required deadline will result in a municipality's Canada Community-Building Fund payment being placed on hold.
- The municipality will receive a letter from the ministry stating that the payment has been placed on hold and outlining the terms and conditions in non-compliance.
- Failure to address the non-compliance issue(s) after a payment is put on hold will put the municipality in default under the agreement. A municipality's funds will remain on hold until all terms and conditions have been met.
- If a municipality remains in default under the Agreement at the time of the second consecutive Canada Community-Building Fund payment, the ministry will issue a letter to the municipality outlining the terms and conditions in non-compliance.
- Once two consecutive scheduled Canada Community-Building Fund payments have been held, the ministry will issue a letter outlining the terms and conditions in non-compliance and informing them that a request for funds to be repaid will be issued at the next scheduled payment if the requirement is not met.
- When a municipality has been in non-compliance for three consecutive scheduled Canada Community-Building Fund payments, the province will request repayment of any or all previously transferred CCBF funds and will remove the municipality from the program.
- Prior to being removed from the program, if the municipality submits the required information, it will return to full compliance and receive payment of all funds previously held.
Subject to the strategy, municipalities removed from the program may be allowed to re-enter and participate in the program during Census years when allocations are being calculated. For example, a municipality removed in the first five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19 had the opportunity to re-enter and participate in the program in the last half of the Agreement from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
Significant terms and conditions
- Submission of Infrastructure Investment Plan – In order for projects to be approved, municipalities must submit an Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) with details of the project and the amount of CCBF funding that will be used for each project. Municipalities must submit at least one IIP:
- by June 1, 2015 that utilizes some or all of its allocations from 2014-15 to 2018-19.
- by April 30, 2020 that utilizes some or all of its allocations from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
- Have an approved Infrastructure Investment Plan in place – In order for an IIP to be approved, program staff may request additional information from the municipality to support their IIP submission. If this additional information is not submitted, the IIP cannot be approved and will be considered incomplete. Municipalities must have at least one IIP approved under the CCBF:
- by March 31, 2016 that utilizes some or all of its allocations from 2014-15 to 2018-19.
- by March 31, 2021 that utilizes some or all of its allocations from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
- Unspent funds – A municipality must spend:
- its Unspent Funds, carried forward from the previous agreement, by December 31, 2018;
- its estimated five year allocation from 2014-15 to 2018-19, by December 31, 2023; and
- its estimated five year allocation from 2019-20 to 2023-24, by December 31, 2024.
- Municipal Annual Expenditure Report – Municipalities with active projects are required to submit a Municipal Annual Expenditure Report (MAER) each calendar year. The MAER is a form that requires municipalities to provide information on interest earned, approved project expenditures, project status, and estimated completion date. MAERs are due March 31.
- Incrementality – Municipalities with a population greater than 2,000 are required to provide information on their capital expenditures for municipal infrastructure from its own sources and net of any other grants or funding. This is for the purposes of Annex B, Section 4 ‑ Incrementality of the federal-provincial Administrative Agreement which states that funds provided under the Agreement are to be incremental to municipal own-source infrastructure expenditures. Reports are due as follows:
Five Year Period Municipal Population Based On Due 2010 to 2014 2011 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2015 2015 to 2019 2011 Statistics Canada Census September 30, 2020 2020 to 2024 2016 Statistics Canada Census September 30, 2025 - Capital Plan – Municipalities considered a City or with a population greater than 5,000 are required to prepare a five-year Capital Plan approved by Council. The plans must be submitted annually to the ministry by March 31 each year. Reports are due as follows:
Five-Year Capital Plans for Municipal Population Based On Due 2015 to 2019 2011 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2015 2016 to 2020 2011 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2016 2017 to 2021 2011 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2017 2018 to 2022 2011 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2018 2019 to 2023 2011 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2019 2020 to 2024 2016 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2020 2021 to 2025 2016 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2021 2022 to 2026 2016 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2022 2023 to 2027 2016 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2023 2024 to 2028 2016 Statistics Canada Census March 31, 2024 - Outcomes Report – Municipalities are required to provide outcomes information to the ministry to assist the province in submitting provincial outcomes reports to the federal government. The intent of the report is to provide information respecting project outcomes achieved through the use of CCBF funding. The ministry identifies completed projects through the submission of the MAER, and sends those municipalities "outcomes report surveys" on an annual basis to be filled out for each completed project.
- Asset Management Reporting – Municipalities are required to make progress towards developing and/or implementing an Asset Management Plan. Municipalities are required to submit by specified due dates various reports, including surveys, as needed by the Ministry to ensure they make progress and continue to work towards achieving the asset management goals as approved by the Oversight Committee Co-chairs.
- Financial Statements – Under The Municipalities Act, The Northern Municipalities Act, 2010 and The Cities Act, municipalities are required to submit financial statements. All municipalities, except cities, must submit financial statements by July 1 each year for the previous calendar year. Cities must submit by September 1. Municipalities that submit audited financial statements with a denied audit opinion, no audit opinion, an adverse audit opinion or a qualified audit opinion for PSAB 3150 - Tangible Capital Assets will have their CCBF payments placed on hold until audited financial statements with an acceptable audit opinion are submitted.