Rural municipalities don't trust the provincial government and are reluctant to work out a plan for restructuring by the tight deadline of May 15.

That's the word from local delegates who attended an emergency SARM meeting on the issue of forced amalgamation, Monday.

RM of Weyburn reeve Dan Sidloski said the group was hesitant to take up Premier Roy Romanow's challenge to sit down with the provincial government and develop a report on restructuring in less than a month.

Romanow sent a letter to SARM that was read to delegates that day, stating the government has made no decision on the issue, has endorsed no plan for forced amalgamation and has no intention of claiming municipalities' reserve funds.

The letter went on to suggest a municipal-provincial round table be struck, comprised of SARM, SUMA and the provincial department of municipal affairs, to decide some course of action on changing local government.

A resolution from the RM of Weyburn for SARM to sit on the round table, and be given a much later deadline to come up with solutions, was voted down.

It doesn't mean SARM doesn't want to negotiate, said Sidloski - it just shows the level of distrust municipalities have regarding Romanow's terms.

"The round table suggested by the premier is to come up with a report by May 15 of this year - well, that's ridiculous. SARM was not prepared to offer that as an option," said Sidloski.

"They just felt, at this point, SARM wanted to give the message they weren't prepared to enter any forced amalgamations, but would leave it open to voluntary amalgamations, and that the government should remove any barriers to doing that."

Resolutions passed at the meeting - which had a turn out of 1,195 people representing 295 of the 297 RMs - reiterated strong opposition to forcing municipalities to join together to form bigger units, and called on the province to remove any impediments that discourage voluntary amalgamation.

Sidloski gave an example of one barrier, wherein a small town will lose its grant for infrastructure and other initiatives if it is absorbed by an RM.

SARM's reluctance to agree to Romanow's terms of negotiation is understandable, says Audrey Trombley, administrator of the RM of Griffin.

"We're not opposed to amalgamation if it's grassroots-driven, as opposed to being forced. But we can't negotiate with a hammer over our heads," she said.

Trombley says that to enter into negotiations on overhauling local government is to concede that it needs to be overhauled, and neither Prof. Joe Garcea's task force report, or another government commissioned study, the Stabler report, have proven that is true.

The reports suggest the number of local governments be reduced drastically (from over 1,000 to less than 125 in Garcea's report) but don't offer any proof of cost savings or suggest how these large municipalities would operate, she adds.

"It is beyond my comprehension how anyone would believe municipalities should sit back and see their structure torn down after 95 years of effective governance, without seeing a snapshot of the final picture," Trombley said.

The administrator says when the task force began its work two years ago, municipalities presented their suggestions willingly, and were told there would be no changes in legislation until the task force submitted its final report in August, 2000.

They went back on their word when Municipal Affairs Minister Clay Serby indicated legislation would be handed down in April. Romanow's offer for a round table plan to be developed by May 15 also violates that promise.

"Anytime we've asked for changes to legislation (to promote voluntary amalgamation) in the last year, we've been told they'll do nothing until their report is done," said Trombley, pointing out the double standard.

She agrees more needs to be done regarding economic development in rural areas - which is the government's main argument for restructuring. But she says many of those initiatives need to be improved at the provincial level, such as in Alberta where the province has tripled the amount of value-added industry in the agricultural sector.

She suggests one way to achieve better economic development is through restructuring the groups that RMs pay municipal tax to, like Regional Economic Development Authorities (REDAs), Agriculture Diversification Development (ADD) boards, regional transportation committees and other regional boards, to be less fragmented.

"They all have different boundaries and are very ineffective in some areas. All these entities have been created by well-intentioned governments to address different issues. My council suggested it might be better to restructure that level to encourage economic development," she said.

But the general feeling by delegates at Monday's SARM meeting was that the government's amalgamation plan had little to do with economic development, said Sidloski.

"It's a political agenda to download costs to RMs and get rid of the voice in rural Saskatchewan that's opposed to this government," he said. "If that is the case then what is the motive for amalgamation, and should we even be suggesting options? The feeling was, (the province has) to show us what's wrong with the system we have before we look at a new one."