INNISFAIL – The Town of Innisfail has received a letter from Alberta Municipal Affairs on provincial infrastructure dollars coming in 2023 but town leaders would rather have been given more information on the overall future of provincial financial support.
The letter to the town offered very little new information, said Mayor Jean Barclay.
“It’s what we've been expecting,” she said.
In a July 7 letter from Ric McIver, minister of Municipal Affairs, Barclay was again told the Town of Innisfail will receive a Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) Capital allocation of $847,106, which the town has being aware of since early spring.
In prior years, senior town officials have noted Innisfail received an average of $1.2 million from the MSI program.
The town will also receive a MSI Operating allocation of $130,080, which McIvor pointed out in his letter is double the 2022 allocation but a fact already known by the town since before the provincial election.
McIvor’s letter added Innisfail will get $491,235 from the federal Canada Community-Building Fund; formerly known as the Gas Tax Fund, with monies specifically targeting local infrastructure projects.
Barclay said the town has not received any further information on the path going forward for provincial municipal infrastructure funding.
“I’m sure that is going to be a priority for minister McIvor to meet with Alberta Municipalities and the rural municipalities association; to get a deal done and figure that out,” said Barclay. “We have not had an update on that.”
With the MSI program ending this year, the Alberta government is turning to the new Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) that begins in 2024.
The Alberta government says LGFF will include $722 million in capital funding in 2024, with an estimated $813 million in 2025.
However, Barclay said the message from Alberta Municipalities is that provincial communities are “massively underfunded” for what municipalities need.
“The money we get for MSI capital for 2023 may be just enough to do two blocks of full infrastructure replacement. It doesn't go very far anymore,” said Barclay. “Municipalities are responsible for 60 per cent of the public infrastructure but we only receive eight to 10 cents on the dollar of tax revenue for it.
“You add the hyperinflationary period the last two or three years that we have seen it makes it even more difficult.”
