MGA Review - Survey Glossary
How Are Municipalities Empowered to Govern?
Amalgamation
Process by which two municipalities join to become one municipality.
Annexation
Process by which land is transferred from one municipality to another.
Intermunicipal Collaboration Frameworks
Intermunicipal agreements addressing land-use planning and servicing, as well as regional service delivery and funding.
Judicial Review
Court review of an administrative action by a Public Body.
Statutory Plans
Plans that identify growth patterns and goals for the entire municipality or a specific area within the municipality.
How Do Municipalities Work Together and Plan for Growth?
Benefiting Area Contribution Structure
A portion reserve-land funds collected from new developments within a defined area to fund the land assembly for near-by school site or park.
Conservation Reserve
Land purchased by a municipality for the purposes of conserving an environmentally significant feature.
Intermunicipal Off Site Levies
The ability to collect off-site levies for facilities that may be regional in nature (e.g. community recreation facility).
Joint Use Agreements
Agreements that define how municipalities and school boards work together to assemble land for school sites, share facility access, and identify/dispose of surplus school sites.
Off Site Levies
A fee municipalities may collect to fund municipal servicing improvements for new construction such as expanding roads, sanitary sewer systems, storm sewers, water systems, community recreation facilities, fire halls, police stations and libraries.
How Are Municipalities Funded?
5:1 Tax Rate Ratio
Amendments to the MGA were made requiring the highest non-residential tax rate to be no more than five times greater than the lowest residential tax rate.
Assessments
Assessment is the process of assigning a dollar value to property for taxation purposes.
Intensive Agricultural Operations
This term will be defined in regulation following consultation. In general, intensive agricultural operations are large-scale farming operations that take place on a relatively small piece of land. They often have many farm buildings and improvements such as structures, fencing, and lighting.
Notice of Assessment Date
The date set by a municipality and included on assessment notices that is used to calculate the complaint period for assessments. Assessments must be sent before the notice of assessment date - the complaint period ends 60 days after the notice of assessment date.
Provincial Agencies
Provincial agencies are provincial committees and provincial corporations as defined in the Financial Administration Act