In a search for budget efficiencies, Kneehill County has cancelled the Regional Resources Urban Sustainability Grant.
This grant program, costing about $1 million, was shared annually with towns and villages within the county to support these smaller communities. According to a press release this action was taken in light of rising costs such as the downloading of responsibilities from the province, the rising cost of fuel and business operations, coupled with the carbon tax and a declining assessment base.
“Since 2013 Kneehill County has seen its overall assessment decline by 25% or approximately $500 million in assessable properties. With our current tax rates, this has meant an estimated loss in 2018 of $5.6 million dollars in industrial tax. Combined with the province’s reductions to the assessment formula which resulted in a loss of $1.8 million dollars, Kneehill County is faced with significant revenue losses for the 2018 budget year,” it states.
Mayor of Three Hills Tim Shearlaw is aware of the change but feels the town will manage.
“This was something that was gifted to us from Kneehill County about four years ago,” said Shearlaw. “We never expected it to last forever and we were reminded the economy was changing, their assessments were being reduced, so we were expecting something of this nature to happen.”
“Three Hills is a very sustainable community, being the larger centre in Kneehill County so we were affected a lot differently than the smaller villages.”
He acknowledges that town council will have to go back to its operating budget, but the impact is minimal. He is appreciative of the support of the program over the years.
“It’s disappointing, but we are more disappointed with the province than with the County. You try and budget for five and 10 years and put together operating budgets and capital planning and it is very difficult to do when you don’t know if the funding is coming or going,” he said. “We were pleased and grateful to have what we had for as long as we had.”
Mayor of Trochu Barry Kletke said he learned of the change via Facebook. The change will cost Trochu between $170,000 to $330,000, and could translate into a 25-30 per cent increase in taxes.
“This is brutal as Trochu has many great businesses that serve our rural friends. Current non-residential mill rate in Trochu is 24 and the county is 14. Trochu residents have a mill rate of 10.3 and the county has been 2.8 forever,” said Kletke.
He says the issue has to do with the fair distribution of linear taxes, collected on infrastructure such as pipelines and powerlines.
“This fight is not with our county friends paying more tax it’s about a fair distribution of the linear tax revenue. We should be collaborating not competing to conquer our towns,” he said.
He also disputes the County’s claim that revenue is falling, stating that $3.25 million was transferred to reserves from operating in the last budget year.
According to the release from Kneehill County, it states they recognize the negative effect of the loss of the program and has committed to renewing funding of $250,000 for recreation and other services, provided by urban neighbours, that are utilized by Kneehill County residents.
It also states the cancellation of the grant program will not affect services such as fire protection, emergency management, and solid waste.
