Strength In Unity: Four Years After Consolidation, A New Regional Municipality Stands Tall
Written by: Kevin Latimer, KC.
Four years after the consolidation of two Nova Scotia municipalities, it appears as if citizens of the new Regional Municipality of West Hants are reaping benefits.
The former Municipality of West Hants and Town of Windsor had existed as neighbouring, but independent, municipalities for more than two centuries. But late in the second decade of the 21st century, community and municipal leaders began to wonder if the two units could be made stronger together through consolidation.
Informal discussions involving community leaders, politicians, and municipal administrators gradually became more formalized, leading to the decision of the two municipal councils in 2018 to seek special provincial legislation to allow the municipalities to merge.
The province agreed to the request, passing legislation to create a transition team consisting of an arm’s length co-ordinator and members from each outgoing council to shape the new municipal unit. Sixteen months later, April 1, 2020, the two municipalities began operations as one.
Indicators of Success
At the time of the consolidation, a multi-disciplinary team from Dalhousie University’s Management Without Borders program was recruited to develop a set of benchmarks that could be used to assess the outcome of consolidation. The students were surprised to conclude that very little work had been done in Canada to create performance indicators against which the presumed benefits of municipal mergers could be measured.
In the absence of prior work, the students developed a framework of more than 100 indicators that broadly included governance, finances, taxation, service delivery, infrastructure, administrative staff, demographics, and citizens’ concerns. This long list was ultimately consolidated into 11 metrics, mostly centred around municipal finances, growth, and citizen satisfaction.
Four years of history is probably insufficient to reach a definitive conclusion. There is always a lag time in collecting and analyzing data and, even with good data, it is impossible to say for certain that the apparent benefits are definitively a result of consolidation. On the other hand, the longer one waits to assess the consequences of consolidation, the more clouded the analysis becomes.
But there is clarity around some data. For example, while the total number of building permits issued has remained relatively stable, the value of building permits issued by the two municipalities has increased significantly. In 2019, prior to the COVID-related collapse, $64 million worth of building permits were issued. In 2023, building permits in the consolidated municipality were valued at close to $149 million.
Total revenue is another important indicator. In 2020, combined revenue for the two separate municipalities was about $25 million. The 2024-25 budget anticipates total revenue of $33 million. Over this same period (i.e., from 2020 to 2024), tax rates have remained stable, and even declined in some cases, while assessments have jumped. The overall effect is the increase in taxes paid by the typical residential property taxpayer is less than what might have been expected from inflation alone.
In the consolidated municipality, combined capital investments grew to about $24 million in 2023-24 from about $17 million in 2019-20. Spending on “recreation and cultural services” is up about 50 per cent since the consolidation and “protective services” is up close to 60 per cent. A similar pattern appears with respect to deed transfer tax revenue. Pre-consolidation, deed transfer tax was about $865,000. By 2023-24, deed transfer tax revenue was $2 million.
Delivering Better Services More Cost Effectively
Undoubtedly, some growth in the new municipality is a function of province-wide growth, especially the growth in Halifax, only an hour away. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine that none of the growth is attributable to a streamlined municipal administration with an improved capacity to deliver better services more cost effectively.
West Hants Regional Municipality Mayor Abraham Zebian has served on municipal council since 2016. He was warden of West Hants when the two municipalities merged and served on the transition committee. He was elected mayor of the newly merged municipality in 2020.
Zebian says there is clear evidence that the merged municipality is stronger than the two municipalities would have been.
“We have greater capacity,” he said, referring to a $6.2-million investment in a water tower in what was formerly the Town of Windsor. “We’re able to invest in infrastructure to support future growth. The Town of Windsor would not have required that investment, but West Hants needed the additional capacity.”
Absent consolidation, duplicated, inefficient infrastructure would have been the result.
Zebian says more property developers are now investing in the municipality. For one mixed-use development on a property that previously straddled two municipalities, development of that site would not have been possible in the absence of consolidation.
More direct service to citizens is a result of consolidation, Zebian said.
“We’ve created an inspire fund with a 75 per cent subsidy from the municipality that allows people to access many different programs, including kids in day camps and seniors in pottery classes, to be more active,” he said.
Zebian also says there are now flower beds and enhanced walking and biking trails creating connectivity across the municipality.
Four years after consolidation, the total complement of employees has not changed. But Zebian says the new municipality has a more service-oriented culture that required changes in how employees relate to citizens. Some employees, he said, adapted quickly to the new culture, but others did not and they left the organization. In some cases, jobs have been consolidated and new positions have been created, especially in human resources where, Zebian said, the need was greatest.
Charting a Path Forward
While the act of consolidation was completed four years ago, the work of consolidation continues.
Early this year, the municipality received a consultant’s sewer rate study. Consolidation of bylaws governing sewer systems was completed and approval of sewer rate charges from 2024-25 through to 2026-27 were approved. According to the consultant’s report, the consolidated municipalities will have better long-term rates than would have been possible with two separate sewer systems.
Zebian said that at public meetings citizens often remind council that there are still two operating municipal buildings in the municipality, and they ask when consolidation will be completed. Meanwhile, the consolidation work continues on matters affecting major infrastructure and more mundane matters like dog tags and regulations affecting outdoor fires.
The picture described by Zebian, and the available data, indicate the new consolidated municipality is prospering.
There were always those within the two former municipalities who believed consolidation would inevitably lead to higher tax rates, layoffs, or a larger bureaucracy. None of that happened. Instead, the municipality is growing, more support is being provided directly to citizens, infrastructure capacity is being improved, and Zebian says overall confidence in the community has improved.
Leaders now believe the combined strength of the municipality makes it easier to plan for, and achieve, enhanced municipal infrastructure. They believe West Hants residents, in their multiple capacities as farmers, business operators, residential property owners, recreation enthusiasts, and citizens – and whatever their demographics might be – will be better served by consolidated bylaws and permitting, even if those improvements are not immediately apparent. They also believe the consolidated municipality can more easily attract outside investment than would have been possible by two municipalities operating separately.
Four years on, West Hants is still working to chart a path as a unified regional entity. The consolidated municipality has a new logo and brand infrastructure that seems to be finding a welcome place in the hearts and minds of residents in the new Regional Municipality of West Hants.
In 2018, the two former councils decided that what united them was more important than what divided them. On the whole, the evidence to date suggests that civic leaders, with the support of their communities, made a wise decision to consolidate six years ago.
As published in Municipal World Magazine (September, 2024)