EDMONTON — There are more than 226,000 kilometres of public roads in Alberta, and many of them fall under municipal jurisdiction.
That means the upkeep of roads and other infrastructure such as bridges falls on municipalities, but money is getting tight within a shrinking rural population.
“We only have access to less than 10 percent of the tax dollars collected on an average, and yet we have significant draws,” said Al Kemmere, president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.
“About 50 to 60 percent of the roads and the infrastructure are there, yet we don’t have the population base.”
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The subject of tax collection is an ongoing one for the association.
During the spring convention held March 21 in Edmonton, Kemmere talked about finding new ways to collect taxes when there are significant shortfalls.
“The needs are growing,” he said in an interview during the meeting.
“The deficit continues to grow. If we don’t get adequate funding, we can’t put it all on the backs of the property tax base.”
Money needs to come from the other levels of government that are able to pull in revenue from other sources.
Another burden comes from bankrupt companies, particularly in the oil industry where wells are not pumping and support industry workers are laid off in small communities. Unpaid property taxes for the 2016 fiscal year totals about $17 million, but municipalities still must remit the education tax to the province.
“We are having to drain money out of our regular tax base to pay for these companies that are no longer solvent and yet we still have their assessment on our books,” he said.
Some municipalities have to modify their service levels or set aside projects, while others have some reserves that cannot continue indefinitely.
The association passed a resolution asking the province for an exemption on the education tax or a rebate when municipalities are unable to collect education property taxes.
Landowners are also taxpayers, and they are struggling to collect rents as well as deal with abandoned leases. The issue has a domino effect across rural Alberta.
“All of a sudden they see a quick decline in their revenue, but they have got a mess on their property that somebody is going to have to look after,” Kemmere said.
“It is an escalating piece that isn’t going to go away as long as the oil sector continues to struggle.”
Funding difficulties exist across the country, said Clark Somerville, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Long-term funding assurances are needed, and other levels of governments need to contribute to roads, bridges and water systems.
“The provinces need to commit to their full and fair share,” he said.
The federal government is ex-pected to provide $80 billion over the next 10 years, but only $2 billion is targeted at rural and northern communities.
“That fund should be targeted only for projects that are not covered by other parts of the funding model,” said Somerville.
Alberta also has access to a $1.2 billion municipal sustainability fund, which was maintained in the most recent budget.
Major infrastructure projects are planned over the next four years to rehabilitate public services, create jobs and transport products, said Deron Bilous, the provincial minister of economic development.
“We recognize those investments through roads or bridges are absolutely critical to the economy recovering,” he said.
