infrastructure, spending among topics of discussion at federation of p.e.i. municipalities meeting
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satya sen, executive director of the federation of p.e.i. municipalities, said while all municipalities are experiencing similar changes, not all are able to weather them the same way. for smaller municipalities, that means they may struggle with the finances needed to fund infrastructure and services.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
summerside, p.e.i. — across the island, municipalities of all sizes are experiencing growing populations, rising costs and aging infrastructure.
but while they all face similar difficulties, not all have the same resources needed to face them with ease. specifically when it comes to finances — a major topic at hand, during the federation of p.e.i. municipalities’s 2026 annual general meeting at the credit union place on april 27.
“funding and resources are limited, and the demands for services are always growing,” said satya sen, the fpeim executive director. “there’s added pressure on municipalities and municipal governments to do more for less resources.”
one issue that came up a number of times throughout the meeting was the difference in resources — and, subsequently, challenges — between the province’s two cities and the rural municipalities that have a smaller population and limited revenue.
“the fact of the matter is, if the smaller ones can’t sustain themselves, then you’re looking at communities either dissolving or some sort of regionalization approach,” sen said.
the meeting included a chance for those in attendance to ask questions or raise their own concerns, like municipalities being largely the ones responsible for operating facilities used by groups outside the community.
another point raised was how many communities have enough funding to get by on a day-to-day basis, or are able to come up with funding for new projects, but might struggle with maintenance, or to fix something when it breaks.
“that all requires money. with limited revenue sources, you won’t be able to fund those services,” said sen. “so what do you do?”
bruce macdougall, president of the federation of p.e.i. municipalities, addresses the audience during the organization’s annual general meeting in summerside on april 27.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
finding solutions
alongside the discussion of challenges, those in attendance also discussed ways to mitigate them, expansion, amalgamation or the sharing of services. as well, many brought up the need for collaboration between the three levels of government in order to properly serve residents.
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“the federal government has a lot of money,” said sen. “the provinces have the power because they’re ultimately who create municipalities. and municipalities are at the forefront closest to people, offering services or dealing with problems on a day-to-day basis.”
but sometimes solutions, too, come with difficulties of their own.
“how do you expect municipalities to offer services, including policing, fire … when they don’t have the money or the tax base?” sen said. “kensington, for example, is a town of 2,000 people offering services to more than 10, 15,000 thousand people in the future. you can’t expect 2,000 people to pay for 10,000 people.”
managing difficulties
summerside mayor dan kutcher understands the importance of municipalities having the resources available to maintain its services, or upgrading ones when necessary.
the city has been growing over the years, but kutcher said it’s been managing the growth well. the increasing population, he said, generates revenue which goes back into building up local infrastructure projects and services.
summerside mayor dan kutcher says that the city has been managing its recent growth well, and is open to the idea of sharing some of its services with neighbouring municipalities.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
“today, i’m really proud that we’ve got a full complement of police officers. we didn’t have that four years ago, because we didn’t have the revenue to pay enough of them,” he said. “today, we’re catching up on replacing water and sewer infrastructure before it breaks and bursts. we couldn’t do that four years ago.”
as far as shared services go, kutcher said the city would be “really keen” to do so, and it has already been the topic of some internal discussion.
“at least in my opinion, some of what i’d call full-service municipalities like summerside, that have technical services and planning support, that have bylaw officers, i don’t see any reason why we can’t also provide those services and support to smaller municipalities. i think that is a win-win.”
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kristin gardiner is a reporter for the journal pioneer in prince edward island. she can be reached at kgardiner@postmedia.com.
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