Community Restructuring Options

Communities can restructure to become a new or larger municipality (city, town, village), a regional municipality or a rural community.  When interest to restructure is expressed, local service managers of the department of Environment and Local Government work with local stakeholders, be it a council, a local service district advisory committee or group of citizens, to identify the most beneficial community restructuring option. Restructuring options differ depending on the type(s) of local governments involved and on population and tax base figures. Consideration of these elements is important to help ensure that new or larger local governments are viable today and sustainable longer-term.

1. A new or larger city, regional municipality, town or village—This is achieved when combinations of communities come together to consider a new or larger municipality. Through restructuring, larger cities, towns, villages and regional municipalities can be formed.
   
   
2. A rural community (RC)—A local service district (LSD), group of LSDs, or a grouping of an LSD(s) and a town(s) or village(s) that meet the target minimum population of 3,000 or $200 million tax base to create a viable community, can approach the department concerning an RC assessment.

*A group of LSDs can join to become a municipality; however, it is often not practical due to the high cost of road services, which is a required service function of municipalities.