Local service board (Ontario)

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A local service board, in the Canadian province of Ontario, is an organization which is contracted by the Government of Ontario to provide municipal-level services in a community which is not part of an incorporated municipality. Depending on the community, this may include water, sewage, street lighting, garbage collection, recreational, fire department, library and/or emergency telecommunications services. Maintenance of local roads in a local service board community is generally contracted to a separate local roads board.

Most local service boards are elected by residents of the communities which they serve.

Local service boards exist in the Northern Ontario region and in the Parry Sound District, the parts of the province where there is no county-level system of government. They are primarily overseen by the provincial Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, which provides them with annual operating grant funding, although the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing also has a role in their governance.

Most, but not all, communities which have a local service board are accorded the status of designated place in Statistics Canada censuses.