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Municipal Grants General Regulations

made under

Section 37 of the

Municipal Grants Act

R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 302

O.I.C. 2024-111 (effective April 1, 2024), N.S. Reg. 72/2024

Table of Contents

Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.

Click here to go to the text of the regulations .

Citation

Definitions

Classification of municipalities

Number of dwelling units

Municipal financial capacity grant eligibility

Calculation of unitized expenditure rate

Calculation of derived standardized expenditure for municipality

Calculation of uniform assessment for municipality

Calculation of standard rates

Municipal financial capacity grant entitlement

Municipal financial capacity grant amount freeze

Town foundation grant

General condition for grant payout

Citation

1 These regulations may be cited as the Municipal Grants General Regulations .

Definitions

2 In these regulations,

“Act” means the Municipal Grants Act ;

“derived standardized expenditure” means the amount obtained by multiplying the

number of dwelling units for the current year by the unitized expenditure rate;

“Minister” means the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing;

“transitional support program” means a financial top-up program to ensure that a

municipality’s annual municipal financial capacity grant funding entitlement is at

least equivalent to the amount of the municipality’s 2014–15 municipal financial

capacity grant;

“unitized expenditure rate” means the rate obtained by dividing the previous year’s

operating expenditures estimate by the number of dwelling units from the previous

year.

Classification of municipalities

3 For the purpose of calculating municipal financial capacity grant entitlements,

municipalities are classified as follows:

(

a) Class I, comprising regional municipalities and towns; and

(

b) Class II, comprising county and district municipalities.

Number of dwelling units

(1) The number of dwelling units in a municipality is based on the annual filed

assessment roll.

(2) Dwelling units owned by the federal Department of National Defence and dwelling

units located on Indian reserve lands are not included as dwelling units for any

purpose under the Act or its regulations.

Municipal financial capacity grant eligibility

5 A municipality is eligible for a municipal financial capacity grant under subsection 8(1)

of the Act if the municipal financial capacity grant calculation for the municipality

results in an entitlement to an amount greater than zero.

Calculation of unitized expenditure rate

(1) The municipal financial capacity grant for a municipality is calculated using the

unitized expenditure rate for the class of the municipality.

(2) The unitized expenditure rate is calculated for each class of municipality based on

the estimates of the previous year’s operating expenditures and the previous year’s

dwelling units.

(3) The estimates of operating expenditures referred to in subsection (2) must be

provided to the Minister by the municipality by September 30 or a later date

determined by the Minister.

(4) The unitized expenditure rate will approximately equal the average estimated

operating expenditures per dwelling unit of all the following services, described in

the Financial Reporting and Accounting Manual made under the Municipal

Government Act :

(a) 50% of general government services, not including valuation allowances;

(

b) protective services;

(

c) transportation services;

(

d) environmental health services;

(e) 50% of recreation and cultural services;

(

f) environmental development services.

(5) The Minister must provide the details of the calculation of the unitized expenditure

rate for a municipality to the clerk of the municipality upon request.

Calculation of derived standardized expenditure for municipality

7 The derived standardized expenditure for a municipality must be calculated in

accordance with the following formula:

derived standardized expenditure = A × B

in which

A = the unitized expenditure rate for the class of municipality

B = the number of dwelling units in the municipality for the current year.

Calculation of uniform assessment for municipality

(1) The uniform assessment of a municipality is equal to the taxable assessment of the

municipality minus 25% of the taxable assessment of commercial properties

identified on the assessment roll as being occupied by a seasonal tourist business

plus the capitalized value of payments made to the municipality in lieu of taxes and

tax payments made to the municipality by a utility, but does not include any of the

following:

(

a) the building, pump stations, deep-well pumps, main transmission lines,

meters and associated plant and equipment of a municipal water utility;

(

b) the assessed value of property of a named registered Canadian charitable

organization or non-profit community, a charitable, fraternal, educational,

recreational, religious, cultural or sporting organization or a day care

licensed under the Early Learning and Child Care Act , if the property is

exempt by municipal bylaw to the extent and under the conditions set out in

the bylaw.

(2) For the purpose of calculating the uniform assessment of a municipality under

subsection (1), if, under an enactment, the municipal tax revenue for an assessment

in a municipality is shared by another municipality, the assessment is deemed to be

in that other municipality to the extent that the revenue is shared by that other

municipality.

(3) For the purpose of calculating the uniform assessment of a municipality under

subsection (1), estimates of assessment must be provided to the Minister by the

municipality by September 30 or a later date determined by the Minister.

(4) The Minister may make further adjustments to the figure obtained under

subsection (1) if, in the Minister’s opinion, it is required to achieve uniformity

among municipalities.

(5) The Minister must inform each municipality of the uniform assessment calculated

for it.

(6) A municipality may, within 60 days of the date of the Minister’s calculation of its

uniform assessment, request a review by the Minister, and the Minister’s decision

is final.

(7) If estimates of assessment are not provided under subsection (3), the uniform

assessment and any other calculation that would be calculated using the estimates

of assessment may be calculated using any information the Minister considers

reasonable.

(8) For the purpose of calculating the municipal financial capacity grant for a

municipality, the uniform assessment is separated into the following components:

(

a) residential uniform assessment; and

(

b) commercial uniform assessment.

Calculation of standard rates

(1) A standard rate will be set for each class of municipality and within each class of

municipality a standard residential rate and a standard commercial rate will be set.

(2) The standard residential rate for each class of municipality must be calculated in

accordance with the following formula:

standard residential rate for each class of municipality = A × B

in which

A = the total derived standardized expenditure for all municipalities in the class

for which the standard residential rate is being calculated

B = the average proportion of residential uniform assessment in the class

C = the total residential uniform assessment for all municipalities in the class for

which the standard residential rate is being calculated.

(3) The standard commercial rate for each class of municipality must be calculated in

accordance with the following formula:

standard commercial rate for each class of municipality = A × B

in which

A = the total derived standardized expenditure for all municipalities in the class

for which the standard commercial rate is being calculated

B = the average proportion of commercial uniform assessment in the class

C = the total commercial uniform assessment for all municipalities in the class

for which the standard commercial rate is being calculated.

Municipal financial capacity grant entitlement

(1) The municipal financial capacity grant entitlement for a municipality must be

calculated in accordance with the following formula:

municipal financial capacity grant entitlement = A - [(B × C) + (D × E)]

in which

A = the derived standardized expenditure for the municipality

B = the calculated standard residential rate for the class

C = the residential uniform assessment for the municipality

D = the calculated standard commercial rate for the class

E = the commercial uniform assessment for the municipality.

(2) If the result of the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement calculation is less

than zero, the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement is deemed to be zero.

(3) The municipal financial capacity grant for a municipality is equal to the proportion

that the municipal financial capacity grant entitlement for the municipality is of the

total municipal financial capacity grant entitlements for all municipalities

multiplied by the total municipal financial capacity grants.

Municipal financial capacity grant amount freeze

(1) Despite

Section 10, the allocation of the municipal financial capacity grant amount

for each municipality will be frozen for each fiscal year from the 2024–25 fiscal

year up to and including the 2028–29 fiscal year, or for a longer period substituted

by the Minister after consulting with the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities.

(2) During the freeze period in subsection (1), the grant amount to be used for a

municipality is equal to the allocation that the municipal financial capacity grant

entitlement for the municipality was of the total municipal financial capacity grant

entitlements for all municipalities multiplied by the total municipal financial

capacity grants as calculated in the 2022–23 fiscal year.

(3) Under the transitional support program, if the amount obtained for a municipality

under subsection 11(2) is less than the amount received by the municipality for its

municipal financial capacity grant for the 2014–15 fiscal year, then the difference

between those amounts will be provided to that municipality each year for the

period specified in subsection (1).

(4) When the freeze period in subsection (1) expires, the Minister may resume the

application of the formula to calculate the municipal financial capacity grant for a

municipality set out in

Section 10.

Town foundation grant

(1) The amount of a town foundation grant payable under subsection 19A(1) of the

Act is $50 000 annually.

(2) Each town in the Province is an eligible town under subsection 19A(1) of the Act.

General condition for grant payout

13 For the purpose of subsection 19B(1) of the Act, in addition to the grants identified in the

Act, “grant” includes all of the following:

(

a) the Nova Scotia Power Incorporated grant in lieu of property tax;

(

b) the farmland grant in lieu of property tax;

(

c) the HST offset grant;

(

d) the fire protection grant.

Legislative History

Reference Tables

Municipal Grants General Regulations

N.S. Reg.

72/2024

Municipal Grants Act

Note: The

information in these tables does not form part of the regulations and is

compiled by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations for reference only.

Source Law

The current consolidation of the Municipal Grants General Regulations made

under the Municipal Grants Act includes all of the following regulations:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

72/2024

Apr 1, 2024

date specified

Apr 5, 2024

The following regulations are not

yet in force and are not included in the current consolidation:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

*See subsection 3(6) of the Regulations Act for

rules about in force dates of regulations.

Amendments by Provision

ad. = added

am. = amended

fc. = fee change

ra. = reassigned

rep. = repealed

rs . = repealed and substituted

Provision affected

How affected

..........................................................

Note that changes to headings are not

included in the above table.

Editorial Notes and Corrections

Note

Effective

date

Repealed and Superseded

N.S.

Regulation

Title

In force

date

Repealed

date

Note: Only

regulations that are specifically repealed and replaced appear in this

table. It may not reflect the entire

history of regulations on this subject matter.