Budget Bulletin: Cost Recovery

Cost-Recovery Measures

• Recovering from those who most benefit from a service.
• Fees that are fair to users and fair to taxpayers.

All taxpayers contribute towards the cost of providing the hundreds of programs and services available from the Nova Scotia government. However, some Nova Scotians use these programs and services more often than others, and many never use them at all.

The principle behind cost-recovery measures is that the people who most directly benefit from or use a particular program or service should contribute more of the cost of providing the program or service. Putting this principle into practice means determining what level of cost-recovery is fair to the user and fair to taxpayers. For example, the Child Abuse Registry search is used to check the history of prospective employees. This fee is waived for individuals who, for example, require a search to become a foster parent, adopt a child, or do volunteer work. The sum of these measures is expected to generate $2 million in revenue.

Several cost-recovery measures to ensure that industry pays its fair share to help maintain safe water and clean air are proposed by the Department of Environment and Labour over the next two years. For example, the department will start to charge a fee to cover the costs of processing industrial approvals required for the operation of large facilities such as power plants, refineries and pulp mills.

Charges based on sulphur dioxide air emissions are also proposed. These will help to encourage industries to reduce S02 emissions over a period of time.

Water users will also contribute to the cost of maintaining safe water through proposed new fees to recover a portion of the costs of monitoring compliance with the terms of written approvals for water systems.

Measures are also proposed that will ensure that large petroleum storage tanks at bulk plants, service stations, industrial plants, commercial establishments, public buildings, and farms are properly inspected and tagged. This initiative will help to minimize the potential for petroleum leaks that are costly and harmful to the environment.

NOTE: For other 2001–02 budget information, visit the Department of Finance Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/finance .