At their meeting on March 10th, Council approved a Pilot Program, endorsing the use of surety bonds from acceptable surety companies and in a form as determined by the General Manager, Finance, as an alternate form of security to Letters of Credit for Development Cost Charges paid by instalments. 

Finance will implement a policy setting out the criteria for acceptable Surety Bonds and associated conditions including, but not limited to, the provision of a draft Surety Bond contract, of which the policy and related criteria and conditions will be subject to change from time-to-time at the discretion of the GM, Finance. Following the implementation of the Pilot Program, Staff will monitor its progress including, but not limited to, tracking relative costs of implementation and assessing the use of Surety Bonds as compared to Letters of Credit, and periodically return to Council to provide updates or further suggestions on the duration of the Program, early termination, or recommended revisions to the Program in the event that the Province amends the Local Government Act or its regulations or as more data on the operationalization of the Program comes to fruition.  

Additional information can be found in the  full report by City staff.