May 25, 2012

New Brunswick to tighten control of water, wastewater commissions

The New Brunswick government Thursday tabled legislation that would change the governance and financial accountability rules for water and wastewater commissions.

Bruce Fitch, the Environment and Local Government Minister introduced Bill 56, An Act to Amend the Clean Environment Act, in the Legislative Assembly in Fredericton. Fitch is also Minister Responsible for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency of New Brunswick under Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward.

If Bill 56 is passed, the government would set term limits for water and wastewater commission members and require those commissions to submit annual budgets, financial statements and reports to communities and to the minister. It would also require that the commissions conduct annual general meetings that are open to the public and would authorize the Commissioner of Municipal Affairs to direct a financial audit of a commission.

The proposed changes result from recommendations made by Auditor General Kim MacPherson in 2011.

Last year, MacPherson’s office reviewed the province’s wastewater commissions due to concerns raised by the public in 2008 over financial practices.

The report noted that in most areas of New Brunswick, water distribution and wastewater treatment facilities are operated by individual municipalities or private entities, but there are also nine water and wastewater commissions.

The review focussed mainly on the Greater Moncton Sewerage Commission, the Greater Shediac Sewerage Commission and the Fredericton Area Pollution Control Commission. Among other things, it found that the chair and senior members of the Greater Moncton Sewerage Commission (which serves Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe) took five international trips with a net cost of $86,890 and personal payments of $9,600 annually were made to the Chair and coded as “Reimbursement of Office Expenses” but no invoices were on file.

The Greater Moncton Sewerage Commission had not tendered or solicited quotes for insurance services for at least 10 years and was paying premiums of $189,000 per year.

The Auditor General’s report also noted that the Greater Moncton Sewerage Commission had paid a total of $20,311 in BlackBerry charges for its chair, from February, 2007 through January, 2010, or an average of $550 a month.

DCN DIGITAL MEDIA

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