WHEREAS there is an increasing amount of traffic from the growing populations of residents living on reserve land who utilize municipal roads and add to the increasing cost of road maintenance and repair; and

WHEREAS rural municipalities are having to reduce or abstain from collecting the Rural Municipal Tax Loss Compensation Trust Fund to prevent the reduction of the compensated amount given by the federal government; and

WHEREAS SARM is showing a total trust fund deficit of $874, 256.21;

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the Federal Government to increase the funds allocated to Rural Municipal Tax Loss Compensation Trust Fund to provide rural municipalities with adequate compensation for tax loss.

Response from Honourable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Your resolution suggests that increased travel on municipal roads by residents living on reserve has resulted in an increase in maintenance and repair costs for rural municipalities. It is the Department's position that the upgrading and maintenance of roads located off reserve are a provincial responsibility. As such, the Government of Saskatchewan provides funding to rural municipalities based on road maintenance rates.

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada provides funds to First Nation governments for the maintenance of community assets, such as roads, located on reserve. It is the responsibility of the First Nation's elected leadership to prioritize their capital budgets based on the needs of their respective communities. In addition, departmental officials continue to encourage First Nation communities to work with their neighbouring municipalities and to negotiate municipal type agreements for a variety of services.

With respect to your request to increase the funds allocated under the RuralMunicipality Tax Loss Compensation Fund, this level of funding was calculated pursuant to Article 12 of the Treaty Land Entitlement Framework Agreement, which was entered into by the Government of Canada, the Province of Saskatchewan and the Entitlement Bands in 1992. The parties to this Agreement considered the funding formula used was such that the one-time payment could be prudently invested to provide for tax loss compensation.