Regional bylaw enforcement deal back on the table

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Four years after a regional bylaw enforcement proposal was rejected, the Greater Miramichi Regional Service Commission is considering it once again for the 2024 budget for all communities except Miramichi.

During a presentation in September about the RSC’s proposed budget, operations manager Justin Forbes said the commission is looking at setting aside $95,450 next year for the Greater Miramichi rural district, and four of the region’s five municipalities, to enforce their bylaws with help from Maritime Enforcement Services.

“This role could cover planning and building bylaws, dangerous and unsightly premises, or any bylaw in your municipality that has some room for enforcement and Maritime Enforcement Services can support,” he said.

Hiring bylaw compliance officers to spread around the region isn’t a new idea, as it’s been considered by the RSC in recent years. The idea of allocating $75,000 for a bylaw officer and $50,000 for a regional policing study in the commission’s 2020 budget was shot down in 2019, due to a pending province-wide policing assessment and Miramichi not wanting to pay the bulk of the bylaw officer’s salary without receiving the most service.

After the local governance reforms were announced in 2021, service commission CEO Wilson Bell didn’t rule out the possibility of both initiatives eventually being revisited, pending approval from the board of directors. He said some interest was expressed this year in exploring the bylaw enforcement option.

Forbes said the newest proposal doesn’t include the city, which already has a contract with Maritime Enforcement – a Richibucto firm that works with several municipalities and two of the province’s 12 RSCs. Miramichi originally hired the company for 2022, then renewed the contract for another three years.

If the RSC board of directors supports the proposal, the service cost will be split between communities based on a proportionate share of their tax bases. The Miramichi River Valley rural community will be expected to pay the lion’s share of the cost, or $45,314, with the rural district covering $27,960, the Alnwick rural community providing $15,874, the Upper Miramichi rural community chipping in $3,652, and Doaktown contributing $2,650.

Forbes said the net cost to the RSC’s member communities is expected to be offset by increased property tax assessments, and revenue from building and development permits is also remitted to the rural district and any municipalities where permits are issued. He said the price tag was based on a contract for 32 hours of service per week.

When factoring in 2023 building permit fee revenues to date, Forbes said, the average permit value is $630. For example, he said if Alnwick’s cost to enforce its bylaws is close to $16,000, and compliance officers pick up on 13 new permits, the community could recoup roughly half of its budget for the service – which would pay for itself after 25 permits.

“You could probably take any allocation from member communities and divide it by $630 to get some idea of the number of permits required to offset the cost of having the service in the first place,” said Forbes.

Based on discussions with Service New Brunswick staff, Forbes said assessment values have likely been underestimated over the years. Based on historical permit values for the present-day Miramichi River Valley, he said, fewer than four permits a year were issued on average in the former village of Blackville.

“That speaks to the level of a lack of compliance and an opportunity to recoup permit fees that were missed, or increase your tax base,” he said.

Bell said bylaw compliance services were added to the draft budget “with the full understanding” that they may or may not get the green light. He said costs were included to inform communities about how much they’d owe the RSC, which would administer the contract with Maritime Enforcement.