The Agriculture Land Commission (ALC) has improved its service delivery since receiving a $1.1-million funding boost in Balanced Budget 2016.

In the last year, the ALC has eliminated a backlog of 185 applications, and processed over 90% of all of the applications it received since April 1, 2016, within 90 business days of receiving them.

The removal of the backlog and timely service follows a B.C. government announcement in March 2016, that along with a 33% increase in ALC funding, introduced performance measures. The measures included a money back guarantee that provides applicants a full refund if they do not receive a decision on their complete application within 90 business days. The ALC received 154 applications between April 1 and Dec. 31 2016, and processed 144 of them within 90 business days.

The ALC has also made progress in addressing other service measures around application processing and times, including:

• acknowledging an application is complete, or identifying what additional information is needed, within five business days of receiving the application, 92% of the time; and
• making decisions within 60 business days of receiving complete applications, about 80% of the time.

The performance measures were developed following discussions between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Land Commission that began after the B.C. government announced the Taxpayer Accountability Principles in June 2014. The ALC’s performance measures are posted at: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=E85E311A2B0344D0AF15C7E9861009E0

The ALC is an independent administrative tribunal dedicated to preserving agricultural land and encouraging farming in British Columbia. The ALC’s annual budget is $4.5 million, $2.5 million higher than the commission’s base budget in 2012.