BILL NO. 70

(as introduced)

3rd Session, 62nd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
65 Elizabeth II, 2016

Private Member's Bill

Municipal Government Act
(amended)

Karla MacFarlane
Pictou West

First Reading: November 9, 2016

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 This Act may be cited as the Transparency of Municipal Council Expenses Act.

2 Chapter 18 of the Acts of 1998, the Municipal Government Act, is amended by adding immediately after Section 23 the following Sections:

23A (1) In this Section and Sections 23B and 23C,

(a) "expenses" means expenses incurred by a municipal representative or staff member of the municipality and reimbursed pursuant to Section 23, 24 or 65;

(b) "municipal representative" includes a mayor, warden, councillor and committee member;

(c) "staff member of the municipality" includes the chief administrative officer, clerk, engineer and treasurer of a municipality.

(2) Each municipal representative and staff member of a municipality shall keep records of all expenses of the representative or staff member, detailing individual expenditures including the date, description and amount of each transaction, together with copies of supporting documents.

23B (1) The records kept pursuant to subsection 23A(2) must

(a) be made available for inspection and copying by the Minister of Municipal Affairs; and

(b) be retained until three years after the municipal representative ceases to be a representative or the staff member of the municipality ceases to be employed by the municipality.

(2) Each month, the municipal representative or staff member of the municipality shall post or cause to be posted a copy of the representative's or staff member's previous month's expenses on a website maintained and operated by the Government.

23C Each half year, each municipal representative and staff member of a municipality shall prepare a statement of all expenses of the representative or staff member, detailing individual expenditures including the date, description and amount of each transaction, for the preceding half year and

(a) make the statement available for inspection by any person within a reasonable time after a request by that person for inspection; and

(b) post or cause to be posted a copy of each statement on a website maintained and operated by the Government.