There is a growing concern from many municipal governments that the province is cutting the Hazard Protection Funding for conservation authorities in half.
North Perth CAO Kris Snell said the Conservation Authorities Act has also changed regarding mandatory core services, and what services may now fall on municipalities to cover.
"One of the concerns that the municipality has is source water protection being added as a levy component which has, up until this point, been funded by the province," said Snell.
Snell also said that stewardship programs are now going to be non-mandatory. Things like flood watch programs will also be affected. The total loss in the budget for Maitland Conservation is roughly $36,000. Snell noted that source water protection is vitally important.
"With this move from the province it will have to be picked up by the local ratepayer, or there are chances it will not be funded to the same level it is today," he said.
