News Release

Atlantic Mayors to Press Premiers

(CORNER BROOK, Nfld., Friday, April 8/05)-- Atlantic Mayors said today they will press Atlantic Premiers to offer up a share of provincial fuel taxes to their municipalities.

Mayor Peter Kelly, Chair of Atlantic Mayors’ Congress (AMC), said the mayors believe their provincial governments have a financial responsibility to assist municipalities through their Fuel Tax (includes gasoline and diesel) to enable them to address the ever-widening infrastructure gap that is plaguing local governments in Canada.

“The federal government has stepped up to the plate, and we believe it’s time for the provincial governments to recognize that municipalities cannot be expected to rely solely on property taxes to deal with the demands of new growth, as well as to replace aging and crumbling infrastructure,” said Kelly, Mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality.

Delegates attending a two-day meeting of the AMC here also agreed to support distribution formulas approved by their respective Provincial Municipal Associations as the means to access the promised share of the federal Gas Tax (applies to gasoline only).

The Atlantic Mayors also endorsed the National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure: Innovations and Best Practices, as a recommended source of management and technical practices.

Mayor Kelly said delegates also passed a resolution to formally extend condolences to the families of the four RCMP officers, who were slain in Alberta last month, as well as extend their support to all law enforcement agencies in Canada

The date for the next Atlantic Mayors' Congress will be October 13-15, 2005 in Charlottetown. Issues to date for the next agenda include:
- Policing Issues in Atlantic Canada
- By-law Standardization
- Revenue Standardization Process
- Aboriginal Affairs

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Mayor Peter Kelly
Chair, Atlantic Mayor’s Congress
(902) 222-9999

John O’Brien
Corporate Communications Officer
(902)490-6531