PENHOLD - Penhold mayor Dennis Cooper said the provincial budget on March 16 has paved the way to an uncertain future.
That uncertainty comes from the combination of this year's education (property tax) requisition and MSI funding, said Cooper.
"I'm very disappointed in the school fee requisition," said Cooper. "When it jumps (to) $100,000 and we only have 1,500 homes and 95 per cent of our tax roll comes from homeowners, it does give us very limited choices," he added. "Last year it was $30,000 or $40,000 and this year it's $100,000.
Penhold's share this year of MSI funding will be $715,531. That's down $55,000 from last year, despite the fact that Penhold has been booming. MSI funding, noted Cooper, is based on several factors.
"Theoretically it's supposed to be (based on) roads and populations. We're growing so it shouldn't be decreasing," he said. "We got more operating funding last year, that's where they took the $55,000 from."
He said the impact of the budget looks grim for Penhold.
"There's about $130,000 that the government is asking for - they're asking for about $90,000 more in education and they've cut us back approximately $50,000 in MSI, so it works out to about $130,000 and they've increased the school requisition," said Cooper. "We have to take a look at the budget and say we've lost $130,000. Where are we going to get it from?"
However, Cooper did concede there was one positive in Thursday's budget and that was the announcement of a new Red Deer courthouse.
"We had all the small communities come together and support the City of Red Deer to try and get a new courthouse. I'm happy that Central Alberta worked together in a partnership. We managed to solve a challenge for Central Alberta," said Cooper. "It's going to be great. We're going to see people move through the legal system much faster."
In the meantime Innisfail-Sylvan Lake Wildrose MLA Don MacIntyre said the 2017 budget demonstrates a lack of restraint.
"I was shocked at the lack of any attempt to restrain spending. We've seen revenues climbing but so is spending. They're not reining in their spending," said MacIntyre, noting the high debt load for Albertans as well.
"That is a horrific burden this government is placing on our children."
Health-care needs in Central Alberta are also lacking focus, noted MacIntyre.
"Central Alberta is not being attended to on an equal basis," he said, noting the recent critical situation at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
"There have been 15 needs assessments done over the last 10 years and still this government is ignoring these needs assessments for an area of Alberta that encompasses about 450,000 people," he added.
Jim Wood, mayor of Red Deer County, said his first impressions of this year's provincial budget were a bit mixed, echoing others on the $45-billion debt and the impact of the carbon tax, particularly on those in the rural areas.
In addition, he noted concerns over funding for Central Alberta health-care facilities and hospitals and ongoing infrastructure projects in the county.
"This budget year will continue but we're still not sure what's coming in the upcoming years," he said. "It's important for us because we budget (in advance) and a lot of the projects we want to do is dependent upon the partnerships we have with the province."
However, Wood agreed with others the announcement of the new courthouse in Red Deer was good news for Central Alberta.
"That is something that we recognized, have lobbied for, for quite some time. We've seen an increase in crime and it's important that we have a system that can help with crime situations that we see happening in this region," said the mayor, who was also pleased the province is maintaining current levels of MSI funding. "I was happy to hear the minister of municipal affairs speak at the mayors' caucus, that there's commitment to MSI grant funding this year and to have a new modified grant for next year."
