REGINA – Rural municipalities in the province won’t be merging to form larger districts any time soon, says the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.
Sinclair Harrison said while there has been some amalgamation of rural municipalities in the past, a large-scale move must come from the grassroots.
“This is not something (the SARM executive) will dictate.”
Harrison was responding to remarks by then municipal government minister Ed Tchorzewski at the association’s mid-term convention Nov. 8 in Regina.
Tchorzewski told nearly 700 delegates and visitors that Sask-atchewan has more local governments than other province “by a long shot.”
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He said there is one elected rural municipal representative for every 51 people. The national provincial average is one for every 166 people.
“Ours is a municipal system of government that has not changed for nearly a century,” Tchorzewski said.
He said in the past the major responsibility of rural municipalities was roads, but today items like emergency services, policing and recreation needs are at the forefront.
Tchorzewski later told reporters he was confident RMs would take up the challenge of restructuring.
“If you compare the number (of RMs) to other provinces we have many more than other provinces,” he said. “I’m not at this point in time prepared to say that that’s all bad.”
But he said rural governments need to ask if things can be done better.
“Can we do some more co-operative efforts or in fact maybe amalgamation because it’s a better way to provide the services that our ratepayers need and the services that they need are different than they were 20 years ago?” he asked.
Harrison said the amalgamation of very small urban communities with rural municipalities is likely to come before the consolidation of RMs.
