Christ the Redeemer School Division superintendent Michael O’Brien says they are planning to have a concrete solution to the parking issues at St. Anthony’s School,
    The one sticking point at this moment is the funds necessary to fix it.
    The parking lot at the school has been an issue since the school opened at its new location on North Dinosaur Trail. The lot is often congested after school as parents stream in to pick up their children and school buses attempt to exit.
    At times, the situation is compounded with industrial traffic entering and exiting the neighbouring property.
    Often the result is cars being stopped on North Dinosaur Trail, creating what many believe to be an unsafe situation.
    Last week the RCMP issued a press release to help curb the issues by staggering when buses and parents arrive at the school, warning they may begin ticketing repeat offenders for obstructing traffic.
    O’Brien said the school division is aware of the issues with the parking lot and they are eventually planning to fix it.
    “We have a big field out there, so there is a lot of things we can do,” said O’Brien. “Part of the issue right now is money.”
 When the school opened, principal Tim Gregorash explained in a letter to parents, the initial plans for the school allowed more space for a pick up and drop off loop, however it was decided to shift the school east to avoid building on a mine shaft.
    O’Brien explains the division is still working on settling the construction of the school itself. Problems with the initial contractor of the school led to the division having Cana Construction complete the project. The bills have yet to be settled.
    “We know Drumheller is important and we want to complete the project including the parking, we just have to be a little more patient,” he said. “We want to make it the best place we can make it.”

    Businesses throughout Drumheller may soon see an end to their annual business tax.
    At their meeting on January 14, Drumheller Town Council defeated a motion to established the business tax rate for 2013 and directed administration to come up with alternatives to generate the same amount of revenue.
    The proposal presented at the February 11 meeting of Town Council was to replace the business tax by collecting the same revenue from the non-residential property tax. In effect, the Town would be revenue neutral with the change.
    “This seems to be just a change in mechanism from something archaic to one that is more common. With things being revenue neutral, it’s quite likely in many cases, business owners will still be paying a similar amount, it’ll just reach them in a different way,” said Councillor Andrew Berdahl.
    The decision to seek alternatives to replace the business tax was made after surveying other communities and finding none subscribed to the tax. In addition, the Town is aiming to eliminate noncompliance in regards to the tax.
    “We did a poll of any community our size or larger and we found Calgary is phasing out their business tax, Edmonton and Red Deer have a section which is for revitalization of the business areas. No other communities our size have a business tax,” said Bill Wulff, acting director of Corporate Services.
    “Currently, the business owner is getting charged the value of the business tax. However, there is $23,000 (27 per cent noncompliance) outstanding that we cannot collect, because the buildings aren’t owner occupied and we can’t apply the outstanding tax to them.”
    Councillor Jay Garbutt agreed it was time to make the change.
    “With 27 per cent noncompliance, it behooves us to do something to make it easier to collect these outstanding fees,” said Garbutt.
    With the proposal, non-residential property owners would make up the difference.
    “The downside is, if we add the revenue to commercial property taxes, the property will probably transfer the difference to their renter or, if the building is unoccupied, will have to pay themselves,” said Wulff.
    The business tax was charged to business owners in Drumheller and was calculated as a percentage of the property assessment for the building it occupied.
    A motion to direct administration to collect the revenue through the non-residential assessment was passed 5-1 by Council, with Councillor Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk opposed.