What the changes to ICFs mean for you

Bill 25, Red Tape Reduction Implementation Act, 2019, was passed by the Alberta Legislature on December 5, 2019. Bill 25 included amendments to the Municipal Government Act related to Intermunicipal Collaboration Frameworks (ICFs). The deadline for completing rural to urban ICFs remains April 1, 2020.

What changed?

Amendments related to ICFs, included:

• simplifying reporting requirements;
• authorizing adoption by resolution;
• removal of specific list of service areas that must be addressed;
• focusing content on intermunicipal services only (note: AUMA still recommends that municipalities complete a full inventory of services provided to ensure that no services that benefit residents in other municipalities are missed);
• limiting scope of arbitration to areas of disagreement and other modifications to the arbitration process aimed to provide guidance;
• enabling, instead of requiring, members of a Growth Management Board to complete ICFs with one another; and
• allowing ICFs to be completed without an Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP) where there is mutual agreement.

How do these changes impact my municipality’s ICF process?

The impact of the MGA changes on your ICF process should not be significant given that the amended requirements are less specific than the previous ones. So, if your municipality has already completed an ICF, or has started the process based on the previous requirements, the resulting document should be compliant with the current MGA requirements. However, if your municipality has not started a required ICF, there may now be some additional initial negotiation required to agree on what topics to address in the ICF given the less-specific requirements.

AUMA and RMA have partnered to provide their members with a brief resource that outlines the Bill 25 changes, how they may impact your ICF process, and other recommended considerations for ICFs.

AUMA and RMA are also currently working on updating the Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework Workbook that was released in 2018. The Workbook is still a valuable resource in its current form, so there is no need to wait for the updates; feel free to refer to it today.

If you have any questions on ICFs or the ICF change management resources, please contact AUMA’s advocacy team at advocacy [at] auma.ca (advocacy[at]auma[dot]ca)