EDMONTON – Alberta rural municipalities may soon be able to raise money from new tax sources to help pay for the rising costs of infrastructure and services.
The ability to raise money from sources other than property taxes, such as vehicle registration taxes or a tourism tax, is one of a dozen recommendations in a report to the provincial government on how to strengthen the relationship between the provincial government and Alberta’s municipalities.
“This has the potential to be the most significant piece of municipal provincial legislation in this country,” said Don Johnson, president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.
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The Minister’s Council on Municipal Sustainability identified issues to be addressed, including more regional co-operation, especially in high growth areas near Alberta’s main cities, and a need for municipalities to have more revenue sources to deal with the province’s rapid growth.
“It’s a guideline, a first step to committing to having a better relationship,” said municipal affairs and housing minister Ray Danyluk during a presentation to the AAMDC convention.
Because the province is in the final stages of putting together its budget, Danyluk said he plans to make 2007 more of a “patch and plan” year rather than implementing many of the recommendations.
“The big changes that come from the report will be instituted next year,” he said.
The minister’s council was established in 2001 as recognition of the challenges facing urban and rural municipalities. In 2005, the government asked the AAMDC, its urban counterpart the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and the mayors of Edmonton and Calgary to join the council. The council’s role was expanded to examine growth pressures and how to strengthen the sometimes strained relations between municipalities.
Danyluk said the biggest impact the recommended changes will have on municipalities is “predictability and sustainability” for budget planning.
The report also recommended the government enact legislation to allow municipalities to collect additional revenue to help address budget concerns.
Johnson said it’s difficult to provide necessary services in rural areas with a limited tax base, especially roads, and water and waste water projects.
“You can’t continue to provide the services that people want out of that,” said Johnson.
“For the first time I know of, there’s an absolute recognition that funding municipal in rural areas is different. There’s an acknowledgement of the pressure of growth in urban centres, but also an acknowledgement of real challenges of funding infrastructure in rural areas.”
Here are other key report recommendations:
- Keep the province’s land-use planning model in place for municipalities that have a good relationship with each other.
- Municipalities that disagree would be able to negotiate intermunicipal development plans that address planning and land use issues.
- Formal regional agencies to develop regional management plans would be created in large metropolitan areas with high growth.
